Ronnie Lippin Cancer Support and Navigation Project Launches with Tower Cancer Research Foundation
The Tower Cancer Research Foundation has launched the Ronnie Lippin Cancer Support and Navigation Project at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to assist underserved cancer patients.
The program is funded by a grant from the Lippin Family Trust as a tribute to the late music publicist and manager, who died of breast cancer in December 2006 at age 59. She was married for 34 years to veteran communications strategist Dick Lippin, founder and chairman of Lippin Group.
“One of the most agonizing times in my life was when Ronnie, my wife, was diagnosed with cancer,” Dick Lippin said. “There was so much I did not know about dealing with cancer and I realized if I felt this way so many others must be experiencing it as well. When Ronnie passed, I had the good fortune of being introduced to Tower Cancer Research Foundation and now the project we envisioned will be implemented by one of the country’s finest medical institutions, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Our goal is to help as many people as possible, lacking the resources and capabilities, who now can use this program as a guiding hand through extremely challenging times.”
The program is designed to provide “assistance to cancer patients with non-conducting assessments of the patient and/or caregiver needs, in-language aid and assistance with medical appointments, information and test results, and providing resources such as mental health support and making referrals to address mental health issues,” per Tower Cancer Research Foundation. The program will serve patients and families at all stages of the cancer experience and from all backgrounds.
The importance of providing a strong “cancer navigation” systems for patients and their families has been championed by President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden as part of the White House’s “Cancer Moonshot” program.
“I am so thankful to Dick Lippin, and the Lippin Family Trust, for partnering with Tower Cancer to improve cancer-related outcomes for underserved cancer patients at Cedars,” said Christopher Clinton Conway, CEO of Beverly Hills-based Tower Cancer Research Foundation, which was founded in 1996. “Naming the program after Ronnie Lippin, a trailblazing figure in the music industry, adds a beautiful layer of meaning to the initiative.”
In 2012, Dick Lippin and his daughter, publicist and Lippin Group executive Alexandra Lippin, established the Ronnie Lippin Cancer Information and Resource Line, also in partnership with Tower Cancer Research Foundation.
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