UAB: Comprehensive Cancer Center

In November 2009, the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the establishment of the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. The action honors retired Tuscaloosa businessman and lung cancer survivor James Estes for his generosity, visionary approach to giving and commitment to funding cancer cures.

Mr. Estes donated $1.5 million to establish the endowed chair, enabling UAB to recruit or retain an exceptional researcher, academician and clinician who will further the Cancer Center’s research efforts in lung cancer and help provide better treatments while searching for a cure. He also has provided the Cancer Center with a gift to establish the James H. Estes Family Lung Cancer Research Sponsored Support Fund, which will expand the center’s scientific studies on the disease.

Mr. Estes and his family have supported other cancer research initiatives at UAB, including the Estes Research Fund for Ovarian Cancer. In 2006, he made another generous donation to help the Cancer Center launch Courage Companions, a free, one-on-one support network that pairs cancer survivors with current patients and their caregivers. It is the only one-on-one support program of its kind in Alabama, and enrollment is open to any cancer patient receiving care at UAB or anywhere in the Southeast.

Mr. Estes is the founder of Estes Nursing Home System. A past president of the Alabama Nursing Home Association and appointee to the Alabama Senior Service Board, Mr. Estes also served as a member of the finance committee of the American Nursing Home Association.