Stars line-up for Stand Up To Cancer's translational research initiative

Aug 19 2010

An extraordinary line-up of actors, musicians, athletes and journalists have banded together for Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the groundbreaking initiative aimed at raising funds to accelerate innovative cancer research bringing new therapies to patients quickly that will saves lives now. Stand Up To Cancer will return to primetime TV on September 10, 2010, at 8PM EDT & PDT / 7PM CT. The one-hour fundraising event will be simulcast live and commercial-free on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Bio, Discovery Health, E!, G4, HBO, HBO Latino, MLB Network, mun2, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, The Style Network, TV One, and VH1.

Executive produced by Laura Ziskin, the special will be hosted Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, and Brian Williams (the anchors, respectively, of the CBS, ABC and NBC evening news programs), and will feature numerous celebrity cancer survivors who exemplify that cancer can affect even the smartest, strongest and toughest people in our lives. Those expected to participate include Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, Fran Drescher, Elizabeth Edwards, Delta Goodrem, Michael C. Hall, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Osbourne, Robin Roberts, Maura Tierney, Sofia Vergara, Marissa Jaret Winokur and Ethan Zohn. The broadcast will be dedicated to the 12 million U.S. cancer survivors and illustrate how groundbreaking research can change the tide in the fight against the disease. Updates will be provided on the work of the five Stand Up To Cancer Dream Teams, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, will report on other new developments.  One of the musical performances will be an all-star collaboration led by Stevie Wonder with Natasha Bedingfield, Queen Latifah, Martina McBride, Aaron Neville, and Dave Stewart.

"We are eternally grateful for the remarkable support we've received from the entire entertainment community. We couldn't do this without everyone's help – from the networks and cable channels donating the airtime to our celebrity volunteers participating in the show and a lot of other people in between," said Sherry Lansing, one of the co-founders of Stand Up To Cancer.  

"On September 10th, we'll send a resounding message: we can cure cancer. It's going to take guts, brains, and the ongoing support of the public, but we can do this. We want to inspire our viewers with the results the SU2C researchers have achieved to date and rally them to continue to contribute to bring us closer to that goal. No donation is too small – every single person can play a role in helping the scientists who are working 24/7 to end cancer," said Ziskin, co-founder and executive producer of the Stand Up To Cancer telecast.

On August 3rd, SU2C launched a popular viral PSA entitled "Change the Odds" starring more than a dozen of Hollywood's young stars – including Zac Efron, Dakota Fanning, Andrew Garfield, Vanessa Hudgens, Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell, and Jon Heder. The PSA has resonated with the public; it was viewed more than 120,000 times on the internet within 24 hours of launch.  The PSA will also air during the September 10th telecast. Directed by Marc Webb, the "Change the Odds" PSA features eight vignettes, where the odds of experiencing certain scenarios (like being trapped in an elevator) are contrasted with those of being diagnosed with cancer. In the United States, one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes.  

The primary goal of SU2C is to raise funds for groundbreaking translational research to accelerate the delivery of new therapies to patients, getting them from the "bench to the bedside" as quickly as possible. SU2C brings together scientists from different disciplines across various institutions to work collaboratively, rather than competitively, at a critical time in the field of cancer research.

As in the landmark 2008 broadcast, this year's SU2C telecast will feature live performances by legendary recording artists and stars from film, television and sports, presenting content that provides viewers with insights into cancer.  The star-studded SU2C television special builds continuing public support and donations for cutting-edge cancer research that translates at a rapid pace from the laboratory to treatments and technologies benefitting patients. One hundred percent of all donations received from the public will go directly to cancer research. Viewers will have the ability to donate via a dedicated phone line, the web, or through text.

The 2008 telecast was viewed in more than 170 countries and helped raise over $100 million. To date, five multi-disciplinary "Dream Teams" of researchers comprised of seven leaders and four co-leaders, with more than 200 individuals participating in total, as well as 13 young, innovative scientists, who are undertaking high-risk yet potentially high-reward projects, have received SU2C funding.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which consists of more than 32,000 scientists engaged in the fight against cancer, is Stand Up To Cancer's sole scientific partner. The AACR, the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world focusing on every aspect of high-quality, innovative cancer research from the bench to the bedside, is responsible for administering the managing the grants, and providing scientific oversight in conjunction with the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., institute professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SOURCE Stand Up To Cancer