Since the Walk to Cure Cancer began on Labor Day in 1999, passionate teams of walkers, formed by the working men and women of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, local, regional and state government, colleges, businesses and community supporters, have been instrumental in helping the UMass Memorial Cancer Center flourish from an idea to reality. Each year, as they set off from the starting line, walkers witnessed a changing landscape on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Medical School: from a groundbreaking in 1999, to girders outlining a structure in 2000 and finally a gleaming ten- story research facility, completed in 2001.
The Aaron Lazare Medical Research Building—which houses the 33,000 square foot state-of-the-art laboratory space of the UMass Memorial Cancer Center—is a symbol of hope rising above Lake Quinsigamond and the University Campus.
While the first years of the Walk were focused on the visible and concrete realization of a research facility, it is what has been taking place within that facility that has become the driving force in recent years. It is this cutting edge research and the possibility of a cure that will continue to provide hope and meaning to those who walk to cure cancer.
In the twelve years since the Walk began, the UMass Memorial Cancer Center of Excellence has made great strides in its efforts to find a cure for cancer and has achieved major breakthroughs in understanding and treating non-Hodgkins lymphoma, leukemia and prostate, breast, colon, pancreatic and stomach cancers.
Walk To Cure Cancer 333 South Street, RM: 13E-495 • Shrewsbury, MA 01545
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