A three-year agreement approved by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University boards will provide for more research funding and a new governance structure. Under the agreement that becomes effective today, Gerold Bepler, Karmanos president and CEO, will also serve as cancer center director and principal investigator of its National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center Support Grant. Detroit-based Karmanos will continue operating and managing the support grant, which is up for renewal next year, on behalf of Wayne State. The institute president/director will also be the chair of the Wayne State department of oncology. The agreement also provides for the university's department of radiation oncology and the division of gynecologic oncology to join the department of oncology. "This agreement is crucial for our continued success in fighting cancer, serving our patients and families and providing the best cancer services available worldwide," Bepler said in a statement. "It is also important in moving forward with a successful renewal of our status as a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, a distinction Karmanos and WSU have competed for and earned since 1978."

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20141001/NEWS/141009987/karmanos-wayne-state-ok-affiliation-agreement-that-boosts-research
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