The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center has announced it is receiving more than $6 million to study a deadly blood and bone marrow disease often caused by chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
A $5 million grant from the Edward P. Evans Foundation, along with a $1.25 million donor gift, will fund research of myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS.
The Evans Foundation grant will fund five research labs over five years, including three labs at UK, one at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and one at the University of Arkansas. The $1.25 million gift, given to UK through the Markey Cancer Foundation by an anonymous donor, will also fund the laboratories.
A major risk factor for MDS is past exposure to chemotherapy or radiation treatments; in other words, patients who have received treatment for solid tumors, particularly breast or prostate cancers, have a much higher chance of developing this disease.
Edward P. Evans, namesake of the foundation, was a Virginia businessman and thoroughbred owner who raced and sold his horses here in Lexington, Ky. He developed MDS after he received radiation treatment for prostate cancer and ultimately succumbed to the disease.
In his will, he appointed four trustees to create the Edward P. Evans Foundation with the specific goal of funding MDS research.
