Just a few days remain until the 60th annual Super Bowl, but for Roswell Park, it’s the start of a new campaign marking for the cancer center with nearly 130 years in Buffalo.
The country’s oldest cancer research center will debut its “Research Matters” campaign locally with television advertising during the game and will continue throughout 2026.
Highlighting Roswell’s achievements is important to demonstrate the role that analysis plays, Comprehensive Care Center CEO Candace Johnson said.
“It's hard for people to understand the importance of research. It's kind of a scary, sometimes nebulous thing out there, these scientists that are working in their labs, and believe me, we have brilliant scientists here at Roswell Park," she said. "But they’re working tirelessly, not only to find innovative ways to treat cancer … but how can we detect cancer sooner?”
The rate of cancer survival has significantly improved from about 50% in 1975 to 70% in 2021, according to the American Cancer Society. Nervous system-related cancers, esophagus, liver, lung and pancreatic cancers are among the few cancers that still don’t have survival rates above 50%.
Johnson adds that it often goes unnoticed how much time is spent improving treatment practices.
“When a patient sits down with their physician, their nurse, their provider, and talks about what's ahead for them, sometimes they don't realize really what is behind the curtain and what is behind that treatment that's being discussed with the patient," she said. "And it's research that takes many times years to come to that point.”
Roswell is among the pioneers in chemotherapy; with a chemo research program that’s more than a century old.
