Georgetown’s Vincent T. Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center received a $6.5 million grant from the Robert M. Fisher Memorial Foundation, Inc. to establish a hereditary cancer research and treatment program and strengthen Lombardi’s program for art therapy as a complementary treatment.
The Jess and Mildred Fisher Center for Familial Cancer will use new technology to create an automated cancer risk profile based on genetic predisposition, according to Georgetown Medical Center spokesperson Laura Cavender.
In addition to the establishment of the Fisher Center, the grant will also aid Lombardi’s Arts and Humanities Program, which uses art therapy as a complement to traditional medical treatments. The program’s staff includes 30 artists who run specialized workshops for the patients.
“There’s a very strong body-mind connection,” program director Nancy Morgan said. “Patients are no longer just coming here [to treat their illnesses.] It becomes a very normal place”
Cavender lauded this gift as an important asset to the Center’s position amongst its peers.
“The really puts us in the upper tier of cancer programs,” she said.
