Paceline cancer research grant recipients announced

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Recipients of the new Paceline research grants were announced Friday during a recognition reception.

The event was from 11:30 am. to 1 p.m. at the Georgia Cancer Center’s M. Bert Storey Research Building, 1410 Laney Walker Blvd.

Notable attendees included Dr., Russell T. Keen, president of Augusta University; Dr. Gang Zhou, professor at the Georgia Cancer Center; and Martyn Jones, president of Paceline.

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Despite Hurricane Helene forcing the cancellation of Paceline’s signature annual fall event, PaceDay, a total of $252,710 was raised during Paceline’s 2024 campaign.

Since its inaugural event in 2019, Paceline has raised almost $1.7 million for innovative cancer research and is on the road to $2 million this year.

In those six years, the Paceline community has funded 26 six innovative research projects, from cancer prevention to advancing treatments for multiple types of cancer.

The director of the Georgia Cancer Center says these grants are critical.

“It’s very difficult to get those big grants from NIH, NCI and all that. With these funds, we are able to do that initial pilot, generating the initial data that then helps us get those big grants,” said Jorge Cortes.

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This week is CPR and AED awareness week. We heard from an Aiken County high school student who went into cardiac arrest before his coach and a nurse helped save his life with CPR and AED.

This research pipeline is already producing results for the cancer center, with four projects alone attracting $9.2 million in National Institutes of Health funding equating to over $24 million in economic impact for the Augusta area.