The LCRC bid a fond farewell to two retiring colleagues who have worked tirelessly to further LCRC's mission for fifteen years:  Dr. Thomas Wiese, Professor, Xavier University of Louisiana and LCRC Associate Director of Cancer Research Training, and Dr. Gene D'Amour, Special Assistant to the President, Xavier Louisiana of University and LCRC Board Member.

In a recent LCRC Board meeting in which both were honored, Joe W. Ramos, PhD, LCRC Director/CEO, LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center Director, praised their outstanding work to eradicate cancer in Louisiana through research and community health advocacy.

Dr. Wiese was responsible for expanding LCRC’s relationship with Xavier’s faculty and researchers. During his tenure as LCRC’s Associate Director, he provided LCRC-funded startup packages, seed and bridge grants, equipment, and/or travel grants to the more than 20 Xavier LCRC members. Dr. Wiese also managed the Cell and Molecular Biology Core Facility for Xavier’s Research Centers for Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program. He also served as PI or manager of multiple collaboratives, inter-university cancer research development and education programs funded by the DoD and the NCI; and built cancer research programs at Xavier through the LCRC and RCMI mechanisms.

The LCRC benefited from Dr. D’Amour’s contributions as a Board member and through his work to enhance research competitiveness while engaging undergraduate minority students in research.  Dr. D’Amour was the first principal investigator fox Xavier’s RCMI Program and remained integral to Xavier’s success in securing two consecutive 5-year renewals. The RMCI Program is funded by NIH’s National Institute for Minority and Health Disparities. Launched in 1985, the program aims to develop and strengthen the research infrastructure necessary to conduct state-of-the-art biomedical research and to foster the next generation of researchers from diverse backgrounds.

We thank Tom and Gene for their contributions and wish them a happy retirement!

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