To assist University of Louisiana Monroe undergraduate students whose lives have been affected by cancer, the Louisiana Cancer Foundation has created a $50,000 endowed scholarship for cancer survivors, those undergoing treatment or with cancer in their immediate family which has led to financial hardship.
The LCF presented a check to the ULM Foundation establishing The Louisiana Cancer Foundation for Research and Education, LLC Endowed Scholarship on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. Susan Chappell is Executive Director of ULM Advancement, Foundation and Alumni Relations.
The LCF was represented by Executive Director James Adams, Assistant Director Donna Jackson, board members Aimee Kane and Nell Seegers and past president of the Cancer Foundation League Alise Oliver.
President Nick J. Bruno thanked the Louisiana Cancer Foundation for this “visionary” scholarship. Bruno remarked that in less than two decades, the LCF has contributed over $216,000 to research and education at the university.
“For more than 19 years, the Louisiana Cancer Foundation has supported Dr. Paul Sylvester and the College of Pharmacy for research into breast cancer. The foundation has also supported the Theresa Marsala Memorial Nursing Fund in the Kitty DeGree School of Nursing,” Bruno said. “Thank you to the Louisiana Cancer Foundation, we appreciate the partnership and the good that it does. We look forward to continued success and progress in our research toward helping eliminate this dreaded disease.”
Sylvester, B.J. Robison/Pfizer Endowed Professor of Pharmacology and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Pharmacy, said, “I want to take this opportunity to thank James Adams and the board of directors of the Louisiana Cancer Foundation for their continued and generous support of research at ULM. We’re here to celebrate another generous contribution to establish this scholarship to help students who have been impacted by cancer. I think this is a wonderful idea. It further demonstrates the important contributions the Louisiana Cancer Foundation has made helping cancer patients in our local community through service, care, education and research.”
Adams, who is also Executive Director of the Northeast Cancer Institute and a ULM alumnus, gave a brief history of the foundation and its mission.
“The Louisiana Cancer Foundation for Research and Education was formed in 1999 as a local 501 (c) (3) organization whose mission was threefold: to promote and fund cancer research, to educate our community regarding healthy living choices and to promote awareness of the annual tests needed for early cancer detection,” Adams said.
Adams said the foundation’s fundraising arm, the Cancer Foundation League, has assisted those in northeast Louisiana with cancer or receiving treatment here by providing more than $1.9 million through its patient assistance fund.
“Today we expand our mission of education into this endowed scholarship. This scholarship will be given to assist a person who could be a cancer patient, a cancer survivor or impacted in their immediate family which has caused a financial hardship that might prevent them from attending college,” Adams said. “Our hope is this scholarship will turn what could have been perceived as a devastating event into a blessing for some unique individual here on the ULM campus.”
Annually, the LCF hosts four free cancer screenings in the community for: breast and cervical cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer and colon/rectal cancer. It also funds a mobile mammography unit to reach underserved areas in the region. For more information, visit lacancerfoundation.org.
Applicants who meet the requirements will be recommended by the LCF Board of Directors to the university scholarship committee for final selection. For information on applying for ULM Foundation Scholarships, visit ulm.edu/scholarships/foundation.