PHILADELPHIA — A $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute will fund a new center at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on the relationship between exercise, weight loss, and improving the length and quality of life for the nation's 12 million cancer survivors.
Projects in the Penn Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC) Survivor Center will include:
- A pre-clinical study examining whether exercise and/or weight loss prevents breast cancer recurrence in mice, headed by Lewis Chodosh, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Cancer Biology
- A trial recruiting 555 overweight breast cancer survivors with the treatment-related arm-swelling condition known as lymphedema for an exercise and weight loss study led by Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, associate professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- A cost-effectiveness analysis of Penn's weight training intervention for breast cancer survivors with lymphedema, in hopes of translating its published results from research to standard of care, led by Sandy Schwartz, PhD, Leon Hess Professor of Medicine, Health Management & Economics
"The Penn TREC Survivor Center will bring together obesity and cancer researchers in a brand new way, through three large scientific projects, as well as education and outreach efforts," says Schmitz. "We are creating a sustainable research and education program with a mission to improve the quality and length of cancer survivorship." Though the new center's research will begin with breast cancer survivors, as they are the largest group of cancer survivors, investigators will expand their research into the links between exercise and survivorship among other types of cancer survivors.
"NCI is very concerned about the epidemic of obesity and its implications for cancer," said Robert Croyle, Ph.D., director of NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. "This investment reflects the urgency of the problem and the need to accelerate scientific progress to inform cancer control strategies."
Breast Cancer Survivors interested in learning more about Dr. Schmitz' exercise and weight loss trial for breast cancer survivors are urged to visit the Physical Activity and Lymphedema website and click on "Dr. Schmitz's other exercise studies" to sign up to receive information about new trials.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.