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UNC
LINEBERGER COMPREHENSIVE
CANCER CENTER
2 Director's
Message
UNC Scientist
Receives
Award
4 Profile:
Jenny Ting
& Briefs
5 Smoke-Free
Kids
6 Gifts to the
Center '98-99
8 Calendar
of Events
University of North Carolina School of Medicine & UNC Hospitals Fall 1999
The UNC Melanoma Team:
An Image-Minded Group
"It's time to find your place in the sun." When Pablo Cruise
made that song popular in the mid-1970s, people were just
starting to consider the adverse effects of unprotected ex¬
posure to the sun. Today, you can still find your place in the
sun, according to UNC Lineberger surgeon and Melanoma
Program leader Benjamin Calvo, but just make sure you
slather on the sunscreen.
That's because anybody can get melanoma, the most
serious form of skin cancer. "Those most at risk are people of
northern European descent who live in southern latitudes
like the Sunbelt states,” Calvo notes. "The one preventive
measure to take is to avoid sunburns early in life and
throughout life. So always use sunblock.
"North Carolina is a Sunbelt state and the number of
melanoma patients is rapidly rising," he adds. "To better serve
the citizens of North Carolina and the nation, we are very
interested in prevention, treatment and research of all
aspects of melanoma."
Vital Statistics
Melanoma can appear without warning or develop from or
near a mole. It's most often found on the upper back, but
can occur anywhere including nail beds, soles of feet and
skin between toes. Most melanoma is found on skin —
about 90 percent— with only 5 percent found in eyes and 1
percent in the mouth or anus. If left untreated, malignant
melanoma can spread to organs and cause death.
The first sign of malignant melanoma may be a flat,
mottled, dark blemish with irregular borders. It can be a
quarter-inch in size and may turn red, blue or white, develop
a crust on the surface or bleed. Because it's harder to see in
Dermatologist Dr. Nancy Thomas evaluates a patient in the Pigmented
Lesion Clinic, which use whole-body photography to create a pictorial record
to follow any changes that may occur.
dark skinned people, there's a common misconception that
people with darker skin including African-Americans are at
no risk. On the contrary, says Calvo, "Their tumors are fre¬
quently detected later and have a worse prognosis."
Multidisciplinary Approach
Treating any cancer, including melanoma, requiresa multidis¬
ciplinary team of medical professionals. "Obviously different
specialists bring into focus different areas of expertise which
continued on page 3
Breaking
News
Thisjust In!
UNC Lineberger's plans for growth
over the next five years just got a big
green light from the National Cancer
Institute. The Center submitted its 1,283
page, five-year core grant proposal to the
National Cancer Institute in February. In Juneateam of
25 experts from universities and cancer centers across the
U.S. visited UNC to review our plan and its financing. They
■
recommended an extraordinary increase in UNC Line¬
berger's annual budget— from $1.7 million to $3.3 million
per year, a 94 percent increase, moving us into thetop 10 in
core grant funding in the nation.
Significant increases were given for: Clinical Research, to
support development, evaluation and monitoring of new
therapies: Cancer Prevention and Control Research, to sup¬
port population-based studies using molecular techniques
to understand the interplay among genetics, environmental
exposures and lifestyle factors that may lead to cancer; Basic
Science Research, to develop animal models that mimic the
development of cancer in humans so we can better under¬
stand cancer's mechanisms and how best to target new
therapies and preventive measures.
More details on the increase and what it means to North
Carolinians will follow in the next Cancer Lines.