< Back to front page Text size – +

Family gives $5.25 million to Mass. General for pancreatic cancer research

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Cooney July 29, 2009 01:28 PM

Facebook
E-mail

The grateful family of a pancreatic cancer patient has made a second gift to Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Divjak family of San Diego is giving $5.25 million to the hospital to establish the Andrew L. Warshaw Institute for Pancreatic Cancer Research, which will expand existing efforts to prevent, detect, and cure the disease. The fourth leading cause of cancer death, pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at a late stage. The five-year survival rate in 5.5 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Fourteen years ago Mass. General surgeon-in-chief Warshaw removed a malignant pancreatic tumor from Zdravko Divjak. He died in April at age 31.

Two years ago his father, Zdravko Divjak Sr., pledged $1.1 million toward a professorship in surgery at Mass. General and Harvard Medical School.

The new gift will support research at the Warshaw Institute, which is scheduled to open in the fall. Its focus will be identifying specific causes of pancreatic cancer, understanding what promotes tumor growth, and investigating why the cancer is so resistant to existing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Facebook
E-mail

« Back to front page

About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

Daily Dose | More Health&Wellness

health answers

Long-term health consequences to being born prematurely? It's estimated that each year nearly 500,000 babies in the United States are born prematurely, or before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Submit question | More answers