Ocular Melanoma (CURE OM)

CURE Ocular Melanoma (CURE OM: Community United for Research and Education of Ocular Melanoma) is the Melanoma Research Foundation's initiative to increase awareness, education, treatment and research funding of ocular melanoma.  Read the October 31, 2011 CURE OM Press Release.

In this section, you'll learn:

CURE OM Events:

Learn about upcoming educational, fundraising and volunteer events. 

CURE OM Research:

The MRF is proud to announce the second year of the CURE OM Research Grants! Please see the 2013 Request for Proposals. Applications for the 2013 cycle will be accepted from March 1 - May 1, 2013. All submissions will be completed entirely online through ProposalCENTRAL (https://proposalcentral.altum.com/ ). CURE OM is excited to announce a new uveal melanoma research grant available in 2012.  In the inaugural year, 19 applications were received.  Decisions will be made soon!  More information can be found on the CURE OM Research page!

CURE OM News:

• In its first year, CURE OM has secured $800,000 to advance research into new and better treatments, and eventually a cure, for OM. The first two recipients of the CURE OM Research Grant Awards are Dr. Levi Garraway from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T. and Dr. John Sondek from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Garraway, a world renowned and extensively published researcher in melanoma, will focus on identifying new gene mutations in OM as well as identifying new drug targets. Dr. Sondek, also world renowned and established in the field of g-proteins, will focus on the development of drugs aimed at targeting specific mutations known to exist in 80% of all ocular melanomas—mutations in the g-proteins, GNAQ and GNA11. Read the official announcement!
• Bascom Palmer Eye Institute ophthalmologist J. William Harbour, M.D., has identified a new genetic marker for determining the virulence of ocular melanomas in a groundbreaking study published online January 13th, 2013 in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. Dr. Harbour is a 2011 grant recipient of an award co-funded by the Melanoma Research Foundation and the Melanoma Research Alliance.   
• On December 11, 2012, J. William Harbour, M.D., CURE OM Scientific Steering Committee Co-Chair, answered questions from ocular melanoma patients after a piece that aired on December 2nd on CBS Sunday Morning. Read through Dr. Harbour's responses!
• Check out Eye on OM, the CURE OM e-Newsletter
• Gregg Stracks, PsyD, the late husband of CURE OM Director, Sara Selig, M.D., was honored with a posthumous Patient of Courage award at the MRF Denver Gala on May 22, 2012.  Read more here!

Please check back often for new resources and information as our CURE OM pages will be evolving regularly. For additional information on CURE OM, please call the MRF office at 202-347-9675 or email cureom@melanoma.org.