Professor Jose Russo Honored with Hispanic Heritage Award

Professor Jose Russo
Professor Jose Russo

PHILADELPHIA (October 4, 2018) – Professor Jose Russo, MD, FACP, director of the Irma H. Russo, MD, Breast Cancer Research Lab at Fox Chase Cancer Center, will be recognized by AL DÍA with a Hispanic Heritage Award at the third annual Hispanic Heritage Awards Luncheon at the Union League of Philadelphia, on October 10.

The event will recognize outstanding leadership from a variety of professionals of Hispanic heritage in the Philadelphia region. Russo will be honored in the field of health. October is Hispanic Heritage Month.

Russo received his Medical Doctor degree from the University National of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina in 1968. In 1971, he moved to the United States and began his work at the Michigan Cancer Foundation’s Department of Pathology, where he and his late wife Irma Russo, MD, founded the Breast Cancer Research Laboratory (BCRL). This lab has authored more than 430 scientific publications, 15 books and obtained more than $36 million in grants for breast cancer research.

In 1991 Russo moved his lab to Fox Chase, where in 2013 it was renamed The Irma H. Russo, MD, Breast Cancer Research Laboratory-FCCC-Temple Health. He and his team are currently developing a clinical trial in the prevention of breast cancer in young women carriers of the BRCA1/2 mutations in collaboration with the Oncologists in the medical school at Ghent University in Belgium.

“My team and I are passionate about preventing and searching for therapeutic tools for improving the lives of those affected by breast cancer,” Russo said. “It is an honor to be acknowledged for those contributions, by members of the Hispanic community.”

AL DÍA News Media is a news organization based in Philadelphia, which is focused on the Latino American experience.

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Fox Chase), which includes the Institute for Cancer Research and the American Oncologic Hospital and is a part of Temple Health, is one of the leading comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase is also one of just 10 members of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence six consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. It is the policy of Fox Chase Cancer Center that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

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