New $50,000 Melanoma Research Funding by The John Wayne Cancer Foundation to Alumni Fellow Dr. Richard Essner

Watch this short video to learn more about Dr. Essner research project.

The John Wayne Cancer Foundation is pleased to announce the funding of Dr. Essner’s research on melanoma. Dr. Essner is a John Wayne Alumni Fellow, Co-Director of the Borstein Family Foundation Melanoma Program, and a Professor of Surgical Oncology at Saint John’s Cancer Institute.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, with one in five in the U.S. diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime. There are several ways we can fight skin cancer, and there is much research that needs to be done to beat this disease. We are working to prevent skin cancer, detect it early, stop it in its tracks when diagnosed, predict its possible return, and prevent it from coming back.

Dr. Essner’s research project focusses on developing a way to predict if skin cancer will return after it has been cured. Currently there is no blood, tumor, or clinical parameter available to accurately predict recurrence. He is attempting to create a serum-based miRNA signature to predict early recurrence in stage I/II melanoma patients with tumor-negative Sentinel Lymph Node.

“Development of a predictive model in the blood would be a first in melanoma and one of the first in cancer being an accurate predictor of patient outcome. So, we continue the work, and we are appreciative of the support from the John Wayne Cancer Foundation,” said Dr. Richard Essner.

To learn about what John Wayne Cancer Foundation is doing to prevent skin cancer and to learn about how to Block the Blaze, click here.

 To support John Wayne Cancer Foundation funded research, please click here to donate.