June 30, 2000

For its efforts to promote awareness about prostate cancer, Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare (DF/PCC), the joint venture in adult oncology among the MGH, BWH and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, recently received the Excalibur Award from the American Cancer Society (ACS).

DF/PCC was recognized, in part, for its support of the ACS New England Sports Awards program, which funds a variety of prostate cancer activities, including research, outreach and advocacy.

The ACS currently has more than $8.7 million in research grants under way at Dana-Farber and Partners hospitals, according to the society.

Part of the prostate cancer awareness work that DF/PCC has done includes the annual Massachusetts Prostate Cancer Symposium, sponsored with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the ACS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Nearly 600 prostate cancer survivors and their families filed into the Worcester Centrum Centre May 9 to hear leading physicians, researchers and patient advocates discuss the latest screening and treatment options at the third annual event.

Speakers at the event included Howard Koh, MD, MPH, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and Len Dawson, a National Football League quarterback and prostate cancer survivor.