Press Releases

New research published today in the journal Pediatric Blood and Cancer shows how early cancer screening and surveillance in patients with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS) results in additional years of life, and is cost effective for third-party payers.

Jon M. Huntsman, Sr. was a visionary philanthropist who made it his personal mission to eradicate cancer from the face of the Earth. He often described his devastation after the loss of several family members and close friends to the disease. In the 1990s, he received his first of four cancer diagnoses. His personal experiences with cancer ignited a determination to make a difference. After he completed treatments, Huntsman and his family vowed to use their considerable means to transform the experience for cancer patients and to advance research. Vision began its course to reality with the founding a cancer center that would bear the Huntsman family name.

Peter Huntsman, CEO of the Huntsman Foundation and chairman and CEO of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation (HCF), announced today a transformational $30 million gift from the family’s foundation. This donation allows Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) to better plan for and address the future needs of cancer patients in the Mountain West. The gift is in addition to the $40 million already raised by HCF to support the construction of the Kathryn F. Kirk Center for Comprehensive Cancer Care and Women’s Cancers at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) contributed to the development of a global resource that includes data on thousands of inherited variants in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. This resource, called the BRCA Exchange, is now available to the public. The BRCA Exchange was created through the BRCA Challenge, a long-term demonstration project initiated by the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) to enhance sharing of BRCA1/BRCA2 data. The new resource will allow clinicians to review expert classifications of variants in these major cancer predisposition genes as part of their individual assessment of cancer prevention, screenings, and interventions for patients at higher risk for breast, ovarian, and certain other cancers.

Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah has launched a unique new service called Huntsman at Home. This service brings HCI-quality care into the homes of HCI patients, whose medical needs range from symptom management to physical therapy after cancer surgery to end-of-life care. Huntsman at Home may also allow patients to be discharged from the HCI cancer hospital sooner by enabling them to receive follow-up care in their own home.

An international team of researchers led by Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah has developed, calibrated, and validated a novel tool for identifying the genetic changes in Lynch syndrome genes that are likely to be responsible for causing symptoms of the disease. The results were published in the journal Genetics in Medicine.

The Pancreatic Cancer Collective, the strategic partnership of the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), has awarded a total of $7 million in first-round “New Therapies Challenge” grants to seven teams of top cancer researchers to explore new pancreatic cancer treatments, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Scientific Partner of SU2C, announced today. Each team will receive up to $1 million in initial funding, with $4 million per team for clinical studies awaiting the most successful projects in the second round.

Officials at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah began construction on a project that will house the region’s first proton therapy center and announced the new center will be named in honor of United States Senator Orrin G. Hatch. Cancer patients and loved ones joined leaders from HCI, Huntsman Cancer Foundation, and the university to mark the occasion.