Contact:
Jennifer Berman
NYU Medical Center
212-404-3555
Jennifer.Berman@nyumc.org
VICTORIA BECKHAM JOINS "PROTECT THE SKIN YOU'RE IN" T-SHIRT CAMPAIGN
NEW YORK, March 11, 2008 - Victoria Beckham is the latest celebrity to join the "Protect The Skin You're In" campaign, raising awareness of skin cancer and funding for the NYU School of Medicine's Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group (IMCG). The campaign began in 2006 when designer Marc Jacobs and his business partner Robert Duffy, President of Marc Jacobs International, LLC, persuaded celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Winona Ryder, Rufus Wainwright, Julianne Moore, and Selma Blair to disregard warnings from agents and managers and pose nude for a series of T-shirts about the dangers of skin cancer. Photographer Brian Bowen Smith traveled around the world multiple times for photo shoots for the shirts, a tribute to late NYU dermatologist Dr. Jesse Rubin. Victoria Beckham has joined the ranks of other models and celebrities who have recently signed on to the campaign, including Helena Christensen, Eva Mendes, Heidi Klum and Alison Lohman.
Mr. Duffy, who was treated for melanoma by Dr. Richard L. Shapiro, Associate Professor of Surgery at the NYU Cancer Institute, has committed to supporting this campaign annually.
Every hour someone dies of melanoma, but if caught early, the cure rate could be 100 percent. Melanoma is relatively easy to detect early because all it takes is a trained pair of eyes. The message is to not let embarrassment stop you from stripping down before your physician or someone you love, and use the ABCDE rule--developed and refined by physicians at NYU Medical Center--to determine if a mole could be cancerous: A for asymmetry; B for irregular border; C for color variation; D for diameter larger than a pencil eraser; and E for evolution of existing mole.
About the IMCG
The New York University Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group (IMCG) is a multidisciplinary melanoma transitional research program Directed by Dr. Iman Osman, Associate Professor of Dermatology, Urology, and Medicine. Its core mission is to advance the care of melanoma patients through a coordinated approach that combines basic science, translational research, and clinical care.
The unique strengths of this program stem from NYU Cancer Institute's world-class faculty of clinicians and researchers and its strong, established reputation as a premier tertiary referral center for melanoma patients. Since 2002, the IMCG has enrolled close to 900 patients, who agreed to donate their blood and tumor tissues (not used for diagnosis) for research purposes. Together, the IMCG researchers have published collaboratively over 100 publications and their prolific research efforts unite them as the frontline in the fight against melanoma. Additionally, with the philanthropic support of patient families and the Marc Jacobs Foundation, the IMCG is currently funding four developmental projects that aim to explore promising new targets in melanoma treatment, enhancement of available immunotherapy options, and establishing novel animal models of melanoma metastases. In addition the group is using the fund to support a genetics-based project looking into identifying genes associated with risk of developing melanoma.
For more information about melanoma and other cancers visit the NYU Cancer Institute Web site, www.nyuci.org.
T-shirts are available in March by Marc Jacobs stores nationwide. Please refer to www.marcjacobs.com for locations and contact information.
Above: The New York University Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group.
