EVEN THE ARMY GETS INTO THE ACT

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FEW DECADES MAKE!

Did you know that the Department of Defense (DoD) funds ovarian cancer research?  If you are like me, your initial response probably was – what the heck?  When I was in the Army very few soldiers had ovaries, that’s for sure.  Some did, of course – WACs, nurses, and maybe a few others, but I wouldn’t have thought that there were enough to merit a special research program.  Even now it seems odd, to a dinosaur like myself.  However, it’s true and it’s well appreciated, even by dinosaurs.

It turns out that, in 1992, Congress established something called the CDMRP, which codes for Congress-Directed Medical Research Program, which has been funded to the tune of $7.4 billion to date.  Funds for medical research are added to the annual DoD budget.  The DoD then divvies these funds up between various programs, one of which is the OCRP; Ovarian Cancer Research Program.  OCRP was initiated in 1997 and so far has spent $216 million on a large number of disparate, promisingly innovative, projects.  Several of the people I work with at the Hutch are partially funded by the DoD. 

 

So, I tend to be a bit incredulous that these funds are being administered by the Department of Defense.   Don’t these guys spend billions on advanced weapons systems that, just occasionally, don’t work worth a damn?  Isn’t $216 million a rounding error for them?  Pocket change, that you might toss in a change dish?  I would have thought that, just maybe, the NIH could look after the money better.  But what do I know?  I’m  a dinosaur.

 

But, anyway, the CDMRP exists, and it has put out a document – a readable document - stuffed with interesting information about ovarian cancer.  You can read it yourself at the following web address:

 

http://cdmrp.army.mil/ocrp/  For the easy-to-understand pamphlet, click on the image on the left of the page. 

 

On another matter, I am pleased to report that I have finally met Dr. Saul Rivkin, the founder of the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research.  He just retired, at 77, from active duty as an oncologist at Swedish Hospital.  I admire (and envy) his energy – but, after all, he IS younger than me.  His wife Marsha died early of OVCA, earlier even than my own Linda.  I imagine that his dedication to eradicating that particular disease is at least as great as mine, if that is possible.  He has the advantage of a medical education, good contacts and – as I said before – a surplus of energy.  He is going to be devote full time and attention to ovarian cancer, now that he’s retired.  I  hope I can help.