The Champions and Friends of Dunwoody Country Club have supported Winship through the annual John H. Kauffman Prostate Cancer Fundraiser since 2010.
The Champions and Friends of Dunwoody Country Club have given $1 million in new gifts to Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University to endow a new professorship in prostate cancer. Winship medical oncologist Mehmet Asim Bilen, MD, has been named the inaugural Champions and Friends of Dunwoody Country Club Professor in Prostate Cancer. The new professorship will provide Bilen with sustained support as he works to advance clinical research and improve treatment options for people with prostate cancer.
Since 2010, the club has raised more than $6 million for Winship prostate cancer research through its annual John H. Kauffman Prostate Cancer Fundraiser, named in honor of a longtime club member and founder of Kauffman Tire, Inc. The fundraiser is unique among third-party events in both its extraordinary level of support and its impact. Proceeds from the community golf tournament have seeded dozens of innovative projects by Winship investigators through the Winship Invest$ Prostate Cancer Research Pilot Grant Program.
“Our group wanted to fund this professorship at Winship to create better solutions for prostate cancer,” says Butch Price, previous chair of the club's annual golf tournament. “Cancer touches everyone, including many of our friends and families. This professorship will enable Winship to attract and retain talented researchers like Dr. Bilen, who can discover new ways to mitigate the suffering of patients with cancer. We are proud to support Winship, the leading cancer center of our region.”
A cornerstone of Emory’s commitment to attracting and retaining outstanding faculty, endowed professorships are designed to support faculty members who are poised to shape the future of Emory and improve the world through their research, teaching and scholarship.
“We are immensely grateful to the Champions and Friends of Dunwoody Country Club, whose generosity will have far-reaching and lasting impact on prostate cancer research at Winship,” says Suresh Ramalingam, MD, Winship’s executive director and the Roberto C. Goizueta Distinguished Chair for Cancer Research at Emory University School of Medicine. “This professorship is also well-deserved recognition of Dr. Bilen’s leadership in the field and his dedication to finding the treatments that will give our patients the best outcomes and the most hope.”
Bilen is an associate professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program at Winship. He joined the Emory faculty in 2016 after completing a hematology and medical oncology fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and a residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. An accomplished clinical trialist, he currently leads more than a dozen early-phase studies evaluating new therapies and treatment combinations for patients with genitourinary cancers.
“I am truly honored to be named the inaugural Champions and Friends of Dunwoody Country Club Professor in Prostate Cancer,” says Bilen. “This endowed professorship signifies a profound commitment to advancing prostate cancer research and enhancing treatment options. With the generous support of the Dunwoody community, I am eager to continue pioneering new therapies and improving outcomes for those affected by this disease.”