The DeGregorio Family Foundation and Price Family Foundation awarded USC Los Angeles $175,000 to fund research aimed at understanding how gastroesophageal reflux disease increases esophageal cancer risk.
Here's what you should know.
1. The foundations awarded USC Associate Professor Anisa Shaker, MD, the grant. She is leading research on how myofibroblast controls esophagus inflammation, injury and repair.
2. GERD can increase the risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma. GERD sufferers face a nearly eight times higher risk than non-GERD sufferers.
3. The DeGregorio Family Foundation promotes esophageal and stomach cancer research. Since 2006, the foundation has awarded approximately $2 million in grants to researchers.