Lee Laboratories
For 14 years, Lee Jeans has been inspired and amazed by stories of those touched by breast cancer. As we enter the 15th year of Lee National Denim Day®, we are more dedicated than ever in the fight against this devastating disease, which is why we've partnered with the Women's Cancer Programs of EIF to establish the Lee Laboratories for Translational Research, a national research program led by Dr. Dennis Slamon of the UCLA School of Medicine.
The philosophy that drives Lee Labs is simple: like jeans, one cancer treatment does not fit all. Rather than continuing to treat all breast cancer patients with highly toxic chemotherapy, Lee Labs scientists focus on the clearly identifiable subtypes of breast cancer to develop more focused clinical trials and produce more effective, less toxic treatments for breast cancer and bring them to market faster. Learn more about the world-renowned scientists participating in the translational research program and their individual areas of expertise by clicking the "Hear more" links below.
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Dr. Dennis Slamon, UCLA School of Medicine:Dr. Dennis Slamon serves as the Director of Clinical and Translational Research for the Women's Cancer Programs of EIF and Lee Translational Laboratories. In addition to this role, he is also a professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Executive Vice Chair for Research for UCLA's Department of Medicine. For 13 years Dr. Slamon and his colleagues conducted the laboratory and clinical research that led to the development of the new breast cancer drug, Herceptin, which targets a specific genetic alteration found in about 30 percent of breast cancer patients and significantly reduces the recurrence of cancer in those treated. Dr. Slamon is well-known in the breast cancer research community and has served on President Bill Clinton's three-member President's Cancer Panel in 2000 and won nearly a dozen national research awards honoring his scientific endeavors.
As he continues his work in better understanding the subtypes of breast cancer, Dr. Slamon's lab, as well as Dr. Arteaga's at Vanderbilt, is focused on developing even more effective treatments for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, further refining the Herceptin treatment and understanding why in some women their breast cancer is resistant to the treatment.
Hear more about Dr. Slamon's work.
Dr. Funmi I. Olopade, F.A.C.P., University of Chicago:
Dr. Funmi I. Olopade, F.A.C.P., is the Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Olopade is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar award, the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist award and a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant. Her work epitomizes the "bench to bedside" philosophy.
As a Hematologist/Oncologist, Dr. Olopade specializes in cancer risk assessment, prevention, early detection and treatment of aggressive breast cancers like "triple negative" malignancies that disproportionately affect young women and those of African-American descent.
Hear more about Dr. Olopade's work.
Dr. C. Kent Osborne, Baylor College of Medicine:Dr. C. Kent Osborne serves as Professor of Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Biology and Director of the Breast Center at the Baylor College of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center that is under development at the college.
In addition to his role as a physician, Dr. Osborne has dedicated his entire career to continued breast cancer research, specifically to understanding the biology of the disease in order to develop new, more effective treatments. He has written extensively on the various hormone therapies that may inhibit breast cancer growth and how cancers can become resistant to these therapies.
Hear more about Dr. Osborne's work.
Dr. Carlos L. Arteaga, Vanderbilt University:
Dr. Carlos L. Arteaga currently serves as the Director of the Breast Cancer Research Program and Breast Cancer SPORE at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also acts as Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, and member of the division of Hematology-Oncology at Vanderbilt.
Dr. Arteaga's research focuses on the role of growth factor receptors and oncogenes in the progression of breast tumor cells as well as the development of molecular therapeutics in breast cancer.
Dr. Joan S. Brugge, Harvard University:
Dr. Joan S. Brugge is currently the Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brugge has received several awards recognizing her scientific accomplishments including the NIH Merit Award, an American Cancer Society Research Professorship and the Senior Career Recognition Award from the American Society of Cell Biology.
Dr. Brugge's lab focuses primarily on identifying and blocking 12 genes that could play key roles in breast cancer tumor growth.
Dr. Nancy E. Davidson, Johns Hopkins University:
Dr. Nancy E. Davidson is a Medical Oncologist, Breast Cancer Research Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Director of the Breast Cancer Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. She also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Davidson's most recent lab work focuses on regulating the estrogen receptor genes in breast cancer, guiding new therapies, specifically for women with postmenopausal breast cancer. Dr. Davidson's lab, along with Dr. Olopade's lab at the University of Chicago, focuses heavily on "triple negative" breast malignancies, breast cancers that are disproportionately higher in younger women and those of African-American descent.
Hear more about Dr. Davidson's work.