Defeating ovarian cancer

A unique collaboration boosts ovarian cancer care, research and awareness

UC Irvine’s Ovarian Cancer Center, in collaboration with the Queen of Hearts Foundation, has embarked on a five-year, $430,000 project to promote early detection, survivorship and prevention of ovarian cancer, the most deadly of all gynecologic cancers.

Central to the project is Ann’s Clinic, where patients with a family history of ovarian, breast or colon cancer are evaluated for their risk of developing ovarian cancer. Studies have shown a strong link between breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Clinic patients deemed at moderate to high risk would be offered a range of prevention and screening strategies, including:

• Oral contraceptives
• Minimally invasive risk-reducing surgery
• Regular blood testing with pelvic sonography. 

Women who are not at increased risk may choose to enroll in population-based screening trials and continued surveillance.

Ultimately, the center plans to create an ovarian cancer registry database to track cancer screening and survivorship over time, providing valuable data to support research and quality assurance efforts.

The weekly clinic, a first in Orange County, is named for Ann Dobbie, the late mother of the foundation's founders. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease in the summer of 1999 and died the following Christmas Day.

In addition to the clinic, the foundation’s commitment also supports:

• Care bags for all newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients that provide valuable educational materials and comfort items for using during and after treatment
• A grant of $15,000 a year to support research on new therapies for ovarian cancer community outreach and education programs to advance public awareness, including symposia and professional conferences on clinical care advances and emerging research
• Creation of a virtual support group survivor network.

Since 2003, the Queen of Hearts Foundation has donated more than $400,000 to ovarian cancer research at UC Irvine, including early detection and long-term tracking studies, as well as support for a cancer research lab and educational outreach.

For more information or to make an appointment at the Ovarian Cancer Center, please call 714-456-8000 or email us at ovariancancer@uci.edu.