College News

Nearly 10,000 cancer patients, survivors, and their families from every Congressional District in the country gathered this fall for Celebration on the Hill 2006, a grassroots event celebrating cancer survivorship and urging members of Congress to make cancer a national priority and to strengthen their commitment to the fight against cancer.

Amy Parente, Penn State Altoona assistant professor of Biochemistry, was one of several specially-chosen Celebration Ambassadors from Pennsylvania who met with local legislators to ask them to support legislation that will help advance the fight against cancer.

As a scientist and cancer researcher, Parente is fervent in her efforts to find a cure for cancer through research and through her work with the American Cancer Society.

"I've been a volunteer with the American Cancer Society for several years and am passionate about furthering research efforts to help find a cure for this disease that affects so many individuals and their families," she states.

"Legislation on cancer-related issues needs to be about saving lives, and not saving dollars."

"We have made critical forward progress over the past thirty years, and now is the time to accelerate our investments in the war against cancer, and not retreat from this historical commitment."

While on Capital Hill, she talked about the importance of cancer legislation to Pennsylvania State Senators Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter and local Congressman Bill Shuster, urging for their support on three key issues: increased research funding; increased funding for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program; and signing of the Congressional Cancer Promise.

Because of her volunteer work, the Cancer Society recently awarded Parente with the Mission Award for Research. In addition to volunteering with the American Cancer Society, Parente completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with the organization through Penn State's Department of Chemistry and was named a featured researcher in the American Cancer Society's 2001-2002 Annual Report and as a featured researcher in its Strides Against Breast Cancer 2002 Calendar.

Sponsored by the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, Celebration on the Hill helped to call nationwide attention to the critical need for government support of cancer research and lifesaving cancer prevention and early detection programs. This was in the wake of Congress's vote last year to cut the National Institutes of Health budget for the first time in thirty-five years and to reduce funding for cancer research for the first time in a decade.