Mission Magazine - $1 million gift from Kolitz family supports brain cancer research

$1 million gift from Kolitz family supports brain cancer research

April 2013

by Natalie Gutierrez

(Left to right) Dr. Brenner and his wife, Nicole, thank Sandi and Bob Kolitz for supporting research at the CTRC at the UT Health Science Center.

A transformational gift totaling $1 million from the Kolitz family - Sandi, Bob and Aaron Kolitz, and Karee, Loren and Millie Jones - will support the research of Andrew Brenner, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Brenner is a neuro-oncologist at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) and an assistant professor of medicine at the UT Health Science Center. Part of the gift, $750,000, establishes the Sandi and Bob Kolitz Chair in Neuro-oncology Research at the CTRC. Dr. Brenner has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the chair.

The other portion of their gift, $250,000, has created a research fund in neuro-oncology that supports Dr. Brenner’s innovative approach of applying rhenium-186 to treat deadly brain tumors called glioblastomas. The method attacks the tumor with higher levels of radiation - 20 to 30 times the current dose of radiation therapy to patients - but spares a much greater amount of brain tissue. Dr. Brenner is developing a clinical trial at the CTRC for this promising new therapy that could revolutionize the treatment and care of patients with brain cancer.

Bob Kolitz said funding research at the UT Health Science Center and the CTRC is more important than ever. "The UT Health Science Center is vital to this region and we want to ensure that, even in challenging economic times, the lifesaving research and treatments produced here continue for a lifetime," he said. "Dr. Brenner is a brilliant scientist and the Health Science Center needs more researchers like him who will help so many patients in this community now and in the future."

The CTRC is one of the elite academic cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center, and is one of only four in Texas. A leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer, the CTRC Institute for Drug Development (IDD) conducts one of the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug programs in the world, and participates in development of cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.ctrc.net.

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Updated 5/17/12

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