Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer Strolling Supper

More than 500 guests, attended this year’s “Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer Strolling Supper with Blues & News”, which raised more than $900,000 for lung cancer research. ABC News anchor Bill Ritter emceed the event, which took place at Gotham Hall on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 from 6:30-9:30 PM.

The night commemorated Lung Cancer Awareness Month in New York City with a strolling supper, a live performance by Grammy-winning singer Delbert McClinton and a silent auction.

The Foundation announced the awardees of 11 new $100,000 research grants in 2009. Additionally, Mark Ladanyi, M.D., chief of molecular diagnostics and director of the diagnostic molecular pathology laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, accepted this year’s Caine Halter Hope Now Award, which recognizes progress in the field of lung cancer research.

The evening’s other award, the Joanie Award for exceptional journalism about lung cancer, was given to science writer Mark Roth of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette. Mr. Roth said he was inspired to write a series on lung cancer in part by colleagues who had succumbed to the disease.

Uniting Against Lung Cancer was founded in 2001 in memory of Joan Scarangello, a non-smoker who lost her battle with lung cancer.  The foundation funds innovative research into the causes, treatments and possible cures for the disease. As of 2009, Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer has awarded over $6 million in grants to top cancer researchers at leading institutions around the United States.

Above photo: Leslie Harwood, Roxanne Donovan, Ellen Israel, Laurie Golub, Diane Silberstein

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