Grants awarded for work in detection of oral cancer

The Oral Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit public service charity based in Newport Beach, has announced three researchers will be the recipients of the organization’s first grants.

David Wong of UCLA, Maura Gillison of John Hopkins School of Medicine and Ann Gillenwater of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center all work in the field of oral cancer detection.

By sponsoring research and early detection initiatives, providing education and increasing public and professional awareness of the disease, Oral Cancer Foundation representatives said the organization will reduce suffering, permanent physical damage, disfigurement and death caused by oral cancer.

“Early detection is our first front in reducing the death rate from oral cancer, and we believe these research programs all will have a huge impact on how and when people are diagnosed with the disease,” Executive Director Brian Hill said in a prepared statement.

Most oral cancers are diagnosed in the later stages, when the prognosis for recovery is poor.

For more information on The Oral Cancer Foundation, call (949) 278-4362 or go to www.oralcancerfoundation.org.

— Sue Thoensen