Scientists honored for contributions to cancer fight

Society’s Medal of Honor to be awarded on Nov. 21

NEW YORK — Nov. 19, 2008 — The American Cancer Society – the nation's leading voluntary health organization and largest non-governmental funder of cancer research and discovery – will present its highest honor, the Medal of Honor, to four Americans who have made outstanding contributions to the fight against cancer. This year's winners, who will receive their awards at a ceremony during the American Cancer Society's annual meeting in New York City, are: The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts, for Cancer Control; Mina J. Bissell, Ph.D., for Basic Research; Susan Band Horwitz, Ph.D., for Clinical Research; and Jon M. Huntsman for Cancer Philanthropy. The Medal of Honor, originally called the American Cancer Society Award, was first given in 1949.

Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy will be awarded the Medal of Honor for Cancer Control. Sen. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is one of the great champions in the legislative fight against cancer. Throughout his more than 40 years in the U.S. Senate, he has fought tirelessly for health care-related causes, from equal access to health care to increased funding for cancer research and early detection cancer screenings. By authoring legislation on a variety of issues, Time magazine, in a 2006 article, speculated his work has affected the lives of virtually every "man, woman and child in the country."

Sen. Kennedy has been a passionate supporter of cancer research funding from his early days in office. As chairman of the Senate's health subcommittee in 1971, he led the passage of the National Cancer Act, which is widely considered the most dramatic piece of health legislation ever enacted. Representing a concerted national campaign against cancer, the law authorized increased funding for federal cancer research; today, it enables funding of more than $4 billion per year for federal cancer research.

The senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Sen. Kennedy has used his leadership to positively affect the status of the nation's health. He has fought for cancer-related issues such as tobacco control, patient navigator funding, and cancer prevention and early detection.

Sen. Kennedy has long had a commitment to fighting cancer. To raise awareness of early detection, he co-sponsored resolutions designating National Mammography Day in October and September as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. He was a co-sponsor of the original legislation for the 1992 Mammography Quality Standards Act to ensure the safety and accuracy of mammograms, and in 2004 he helped introduce the reauthorization bill, which allowed appropriations for grants to evaluate screening programs. In 2002, Sen. Kennedy co-sponsored legislation to help uninsured Native American women suffering from breast and cervical cancer benefit from federal and state resources for treatment. He has also worked to improve access to colon cancer screenings and has supported research and education related to blood cancers, including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.