Laureate Society Assembles for Jacksonville Inaugural Luncheon

Jacksonville, Fla., February 13, 2007– Dr. Luis Parada, American Cancer Society Research Professor, was the keynote speaker at the inaugural luncheon of the American Cancer Society’s Laureate Society of Jacksonville on Feb. 1, 2007 at Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Dr. Parada is the director of the Center for Developmental Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. In 2004, Dr. Parada’s research on tumors of the nervous system in mice led to an American Cancer Society grant that has helped his lab seek to find links between genes that regulate controlled cell growth in development and their role in cancer.

He was joined by Dr. Christopher Widnell, PhD, Scientific Program Director, American Cancer Society National Home Office; Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, Deputy Chief Medical Officer American Cancer Society National Home Office; Ralph DeVitto, Chief Operating Officer of the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society, and Scot N. Ackerman, MD, Chairman, Laureate Society of Jacksonville to honor inaugural members of the group.

Jacksonville Laureate Society Inaugural Members include:

Mary and Bruce Bower
Jessie Ball DuPont Fund
Gasper and Irene Lazzara Charitable Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Russell B. Newton, Jr.
The David A. Stein Family Foundation
Selevan Family Foundation
Wolfson Family Foundation
The Zimmerman Family

The Laureate Society of Jacksonville is an exclusive donor recognition club designed to thank those who provide major annual support to the American Cancer Society at the level of $10,000 or more. The Laureate Society is only the third of its kind in the nation for the American Cancer Society. The first was launched in the Town of Palm Beach in 2004.

Laureate Society members will be provided opportunities to attend small, private meetings with leading cancer experts receive breaking cancer information and obtain personal access to American Cancer Society medical advisors. For more information please call Lori Ann Whittington, Executive Director, at 904-398-0537.

Media Contact: Ron Whittington (904-563-0402)