The Ride Awards Over $400,00 to UW Cancer Researchers

The Ride Awards Over $400,00 to UW Cancer Researchers

January 18th, 2020  |  Rob Kelly

Madison, Wis. –
The 2019 Ride Scholars were announced at the 4th Annual Wisconsin Hockey Face-Off Against Cancer game on Saturday, January 18 at the Kohl Center which can be viewed here.

Seven scholars and their labs will receive a total of $407,389 raised in 2019 from The Ride, the annual community cycling benefit for cancer research and treatment programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In 2019, The Ride had 1,626 riders, 3,013 donors, and more than 300 volunteers all focused on raising money to accelerate the university’s most promising and innovative cancer research. Since 2016, The Ride has raised more than $1.2 million—all of which has gone directly to support cancer research projects aimed at advancing cancer care.

“It’s gratifying to see how invested the community is in our mission of advancing cancer research and to see consistent growth of this event in terms of dollars raised and the number of riders, donors, and volunteers,” says Dr. Deric Wheeler, Director of The Ride and Associate Professor of Human Oncology at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “These efforts are having a real impact. Funding from The Ride is enabling UW researchers to launch projects that might not have been possible otherwise. All these projects have the potential to lead to novel approaches in cancer therapy.”

The 2019 Ride Scholars include the following researchers:

Anjon Audhya, PhD, professor of biomolecular chemistry, who is studying the regulation of integrins, proteins that play an important role in metastasis, with the goal of developing new targets for treating metastatic cancers.

Pamela Kreeger, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering, who is seeking potential targets for controlling metastasis in ovarian cancer.

Hau Le, MD, FACS, assistant professor of surgery, is developing a cold atmospheric plasma device capable of killing cancer cells during surgery.

Shigeki Miyamoto, PhD, professor of oncology, is working toward developing a biomarker to predict response to treatment for multiple myeloma.

Susan Pitt, MD, MPHS, FACS, assistant professor of surgery, is studying how patients and their doctors make treatment decisions for thyroid cancer.

Nathan Sherer, PhD, associate professor of molecular virology and oncology, and Evie Carchman, MD, FACS, assistant professor of surgery, are studying the use of HIV drugs to prevent or treat HPV-associated cancers.

Xiaofei Zhang, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, is studying the use of preoperative chemotherapy to improve treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The Ride continues in 2020 on Sunday, September 27 at the American Family Insurance headquarters campus in Madison, Wisconsin. Participants have the ability to register for any of the five routes (3-mile, 17-mile, 34-mile, 63-mile, 102-mile) which feature the same start and finish location. The 3-mile route, which is catered to adults and children will be solely contained within the American Family Insurance campus and will not utilize any public roads. In addition, the event features on-site amenities such as food, beverages and post-ride programming and entertainment.

Visit badgerchallenge.org to learn more about the cycling benefit and how it drives critical cancer research and treatment programs at the University of Wisconsin.

Made Possible By Our Generous Sponsors

American Family Insurance
Balance & Believe
Floricity
UW Health
Aldevron
Capital Brewery
Clements Vision Care
Dental Health Associates
Dreambikes
Erik's Bike Shop
First Student
Group Health Cooperative
JD McCormick Properties
Just Coffee
Leo Cancer Care
LRS
Machinery Row Bicycles
Marcus Theatres
Monk's Bar and Grill
Movin' Shoes
Park Bank
Pepsi
REI Co-op
Sassy Cow Creamery
Shine United
Total Water Culligan