Forming strong collaborations in cancer research

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Cited from endi.com Although it’s known that cancer has a high impact in the Puerto Rican population, studies made in the United States place to us in the broad Hispanic group, thus the specific incidence of the disease in Puerto Rican specifically, is unknown. "Doctor Edna Mora, of the Cancer Center of the University of Puerto Rico, gave the example that the Puerto Rican population has the second highest incidence of diabetes in the world, surpassed only by the population of the Pima Indians in North America." "It has been demonstrated that diabetes is a risk factor to develop certain types of cancer and for that reason it is important to know if this is due to lifestyle, genetic or environmental factors. In a meeting like this we can learn the research efforts investigating this issue." "Currently, breast and colon cancer are the most common among Puerto Rican women, whereas the prostate and colon cancer are the most frequent among Puerto Rican men." The efforts of this conference have been fruitful, establishing collaboration between the chemist, Dr. Abimael Rodriguez, of the UPR in Piedras River, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. A few years ago, Rodriguez discovered some components that are know being investigated in Texas, since they were discovered to destroy cancerous cells in the brain.