CINJ receives $75,000 grant from Breast Cancer Alliance

For the second consecutive year, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the non-profit entity the Breast Cancer Alliance. The grant, which supports the institute's Breast Surgery Fellowship Program, is for academic year 2013-2014. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is a Center of Excellence of The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

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

Along with supporting education and outreach efforts devoted to breast cancer, the Breast Cancer Alliance also awards grants to support innovative research. This component is a main focus of the Breast Surgery Fellowship Program, as fellows 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 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 The Cancer Institute of New Jersey in training the next generation of breast cancer surgeons," said Cancer Institute of New Jersey surgical oncologist Laurie J. Kirstein, MD, FACS, who heads the fellowship program and is an assistant professor of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The grant will support the program's newest breast surgery fellow, Ibironke Vivian Adelaja, MD, beginning July 1. Dr. Adelaja comes to The Cancer Institute of New Jersey from the Central California Faculty Medical Group. She previously was the chief surgical resident at UCSF Fresno, where she helped establish a breast surgical services clinic for underserved and uninsured patients.