| In a rush to enjoy the outdoors, many people forget to protect themselves from the sun — taking a deadly risk for their skin. Exposure to the sun's rays can cause skin lesions (abnormal growths or patches) or even cancers, like melanoma. If not detected early, skin cancers can be just as deadly as any other cancer. In fact, as of a decade ago, the 5-year survival rate for those with Stage IV (metastatic) melanoma was only 15 to 20 percent. With the development of new therapies, this is improving, but still most patients with metastatic melanoma face dire outcomes.
We need to do more to fight these diseases. You can help with your renewal gift to the MGH Fund right now. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital are pioneering new investigations into cancers — including melanoma and many others.
Right now, Ryan J. Sullivan, MD, medical oncologist at Mass General, is leading efforts to discover better treatments for cancers. Using emerging therapies, combined with drugs already available, Dr. Sullivan is opening doors for expanded melanoma research and even more effective targeted drug treatment. In addition, these new therapies are less invasive and risky for the patient, when compared to conventional biopsies.
Right now, Hensin Tsao, MD, PhD, Director of the Skin Cancer Genetics Laboratory and Mass General's Melanoma and Pigmented Lesion Center, is leading efforts to better understand why we get melanoma — from DNA changes that we inherit, to environmental risk factors, such as excessive sunlight. These discoveries are allowing scientists, and clinicians, to better identify patients at high risk for melanoma before they develop the disease.
Ground-breaking research, like Dr. Sullivan's and Dr. Tsao's, is providing new hope for patients with diseases long considered incurable. And your support of the MGH Fund is one of the major reasons we're able to conduct more hospital-based research than any other institution in the nation.
Please make a tax-deductible gift to the MGH Fund today so that Mass General can continue to provide hope for those who need it most. When you do, you'll help ensure that lack of funding doesn't stand in the way of our researchers and their life-saving work.
Peter L. Slavin, MD
President, Massachusetts General Hospital
P.S. Your support today is one of the reasons our researchers have the resources they need to investigate how to defeat deadly cancers, like melanoma, using new and innovative approaches.
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