UAB: Comprehensive Cancer Center

The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center recently launched a philanthropic initiative to honor the late Richard Elkus, M.D., who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in 2005.

Helene Elkus and her family are leading an effort to establish the Richard A. Elkus, M.D., Eminent Scholars Program in GI Oncology Research at UAB. This initiative will raise $2 million to develop novel treatments for GI cancers, accelerate the application of these discoveries into the clinical care of patients and reduce the number of deaths caused by GI cancers through preventive medical technology and lifestyle modification. Especially important to the Elkus family is the opportunity to have this innovative and cutting-edge research and clinical care here at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and available to the citizens of Alabama, eliminating the need to travel for patients diagnosed with GI cancer.

Helene Elkus and her children, Mark Elkus, Cathy Elkus Zedd and Tracy Elkus Lurey, are committed to helping UAB build a national program of excellence in GI cancer research. They have made a lead gift and continue to raise funds to implement pilot research studies and multidisciplinary research projects to bring together scientists from labs across campus that have never worked together before.

"My family and I believe that the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, given the needed resources, is positioned to become the nation's premier research institution for GI cancers," Helene Elkus says. "We are investing personally in this effort and encourage others to as well."

For more information or to make a gift, please contact Katy Smith at (205) 934-1603 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it