UK. The Moodie Davitt Report has completed its five-year £175,000 (US$205,000) commitment to fund various projects through The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Our final £35,000 (US$41,000) donation formed part of a commitment to fund ground-breaking research by the world-renowned research arm of specialist cancer hospital, the Royal Marsden Hospital. The work could change the way cancers of all types are diagnosed and treated on a global scale.
The donation was welcomed this week by the charity’s Philanthropy Manager Trusts Stephen Harvey-Cook.
“Thank you for your generous support,” he said. “This is the final instalment of your pledge towards a research bursary at The Royal Marsden, which is being used to fund Dr Katharina von Loga’s position.
“Dr von Loga’s research is looking into how we can use digital technology such as artificial intelligence to improve our understanding of cancer and its treatments. This work has great potential to improve the lives of cancer patients across all different types of the disease.”
The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie, who was successfully treated by The Royal Marsden in 2010 and 2011 for stomach cancer, commented: “We are humbled by the life-changing work done by the Royal Marsden and privileged to support it.
“We are pleased to have been able to honour this commitment through by far the toughest two years our business has undergone during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and again this year as travel retail shows an encouraging recovery.”
As reported, The Moodie Davitt Report launched the EGB Cancer Research Fellowship in 2017, just four years after The Moodie Report Foundation donated US$202,000 to fund a vital Royal Marsden research study into genetic sequencing.
The initials EGB in The Moodie Davitt EGB Cancer Research Fellowship honour loved ones of former members of the Moodie Davitt team who have been lost to the disease: Emma, sister to former Chief Administration Officer Victoria Willey (wife of our current Chief Technology Officer Matt Willey; Gary, father of former Brands Editor Helen Pawson; and Brendan, husband of former Advertising Director Connie Magner. |
Supported by the bursary, Dr von Loga has headed a team within the Centre for Molecular Pathology (CMP) to investigate how immunotherapy drugs work at a cellular level. The CMP team’s aim is to improve cancer diagnosis so that patients can be given the most appropriate treatment, with a focus on personalisation, as early as possible.
A virtual event organised by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity highlighted the work associated with securing personal cancer diagnoses and how technology is shaping the future of precision cancer medicine. It revealed how ground-breaking cancer research and treatments, subjects of support by The Moodie Davitt Report, are moving closer to personalised cancer diagnoses.