CINJ receives grant to support its Breast Surgery Fellowship Program

Receiving a boost to support its Breast Surgery Fellowship Program, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) has been awarded a $75,000 grant from The Breast Cancer Alliance for academic year 2012-2013. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

CINJ's one-year fellowship provides surgeons who have completed their general surgery residency with advanced training and experience that prepares them to provide state-of-the-art care specifically for patients with breast disease. Through the program, they learn how to apply a multidisciplinary approach to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of breast cancer patients.

CINJ fellows also participate in clinical and/or laboratory research with opportunities to design and implement clinical trials. They also train in the basic methodology for conducting those trials. The Breast Cancer Alliance, a non-profit entity, awards grants to support innovative research as well as education and outreach initiatives devoted to breast cancer.

"The Breast Cancer Alliance has supported fellowships at many top institutions in the Northeast region through the years. We are pleased that its members recognize the strength of our program here at CINJ and that through this award we will be able to help advance breast cancer research and treatment," said CINJ surgical oncologist Laurie J. Kirstein, MD, FACS, who heads the fellowship program and is an assistant professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The grant will support the work of CINJ's newest breast surgical fellow beginning July 1.

SOURCE The Cancer Institute of New Jersey