S.C. State joins endowed chairs program

For the first time, S.C. State University is a partner in the state’s endowed chairs program, aiding a study on racial and other disparities in prostate cancer.

The S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence board announced the approval Tuesday of $3.6 million in lottery funds for a new center for prostate cancer research at the Medical University of South Carolina.

MUSC will work with SCSU and the University of South Carolina on the project.

“The engagement of multiple universities, including a historically black college, makes this a true collaboration,” said Rose Booze, interim vice president for research at USC. “South Carolina has great strength in health disparities research at all three participating institutions.”

Researchers will examine obesity and lifestyle as contributing factors to prostate cancer while looking at factors that influence black men to be screened. One of the goals is to increase prostate cancer screenings among black men, who according to the American Cancer Society are more likely to get prostate cancer than others.

“A major problem faced by prostate cancer researchers in this state is a lack of inclusion of African-Americans in the studies being conducted,” said MUSC Provost John Raymond.

The endowed chairs program is a state-funded effort to grow knowledge-based jobs by creating spin-off companies from university research. The program also attracts world-class researchers to serve as endowed chairs who can attract private funding, scientists and students to state universities.