Clark Atlanta Among Three Recipients Of Grant To Fight Prostate Cancer

ATLANTA, GA – Clark Atlanta University is among the three recipients of a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to further research on castration-resistant prostate cancer.

CAU was charged along with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and the Vancouver Prostate Center to jointly develop groundbreaking drugs to aid in the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer, the deadliest form of the disease.

Dr. Jaideep Chaudhary, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and interim associate dean, School of Arts and Sciences, will be the principal investigator for CAU. Dr. Chaudhary will conduct pre-clinical trials of newly designed drugs emanating from this collaborative research project.

“This grant is extremely significant for the Cancer Center as it addresses our mission of developing treatments for prostate cancer, which disproportionately affects African-American men,” Chaudhary said in a statement released by the school.

As of 2013, the most recent year for which statistics exist, black men had the highest rate of contracting prostate cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also found in the same year that African-Americans have a higher death rate from prostate cancer than other ethnic groups.

Clark University’s Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development (CCRTD) is considered one of the leading cancer research centers in the nation and focuses exclusively on treating and eliminating prostate cancer in black men. The Center was established at CAU in 1999 through combining the joint strengths of the Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry. It has strategic partnerships with numerous colleges, universities and laboratories worldwide, including Emory University, Morehouse College, Cornell University and iThemba LABS in South Africa.

For more information about CCRTD visit CAU.edu.

Photo courtesy of Clark Atlanta University