The Keystone Program in Personalized Risk and Prevention

The Opportunity

“Cancer is by its nature a genetic disease, and genetic counseling – combined with the potential means of managing or preventing cancer – is an empowering tool for patients and their families.” – Mary Daly, M.D., Ph.D.

The Keystone Program in Personalized Risk and Prevention unites two highly successful programs in family risk assessment and chemoprevention at Fox Chase in order to accelerate the discovery of biomarkers – molecular markers that could signal the early onset of cancer – and develop risk reduction strategies that are tailored to the profile and personal values of the individual. The ultimate goal of this Keystone Program is to bridge the gap between the Fox Chase’s current clinical programs in family risk for cancer and basic prevention research programs in order to decrease cancer incidence and mortality.

As the creator of the Family Risk Assessment Program, the first such cancer-risk program in the country, Fox Chase has become an international leader among cancer care providers in detecting genetic cancer risk and providing counseling on risk reduction. Over the years, the program has compiled a wealth of information on over 100,000 individuals (10,000 families) at increased risk of breast, ovarian, colorectal, prostate or skin cancer. Likewise, the Chemoprevention Research Program at Fox Chase, one of the nations first basic research programs in chemoprevention, has gained national recognition for its expertise in biomarker identification, animal modeling, preventive therapeutic intervention, and early detection.