Phi Beta Psi Sorority held its 101st National Convention on July 19-22, 209 at the Sheraton Cincinnati North, Cincinnati, Ohio.  Our local chapter, Theta Lambda, had several members in attendance:  Kathy Mattingly and Vickie Seiler as delegates, and Connie Hueber, IN State President, attending on behalf of the Indiana State Organization.  Other members attending only one day were: DeeDee Brown, Mary Lou Crouch, Yvonne Walton and Brenda O’Neal. 

The purpose of Phi Beta Psi is to participate in charitable work, to promote fraternal relationship among its members and to establish and assist other chapters of Phi Beta Psi.  Our National Project is cancer research and at the 2009 National Convention held in Cincinnati, Ohio, the membership voted to give $332,100 total in research grants to six doctors.  Donations to our National Project of cancer research can be made to our local chapter.  Contact our president Kathy Mattingly @ 438-3271 or our treasurer, Kathy Ruch @ 438-4057.

Those six grants were given to the following doctors:

1. Sarah A. Andres, Post-doctoral Research Fellow
University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Project:  A novel Gene Subset for Predicting Breast Cancer Recurrence and Survival

2. Robert L. Fine, Associate Professor, MD
Columbia University, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbia University Medical Center
New York, NY
Project:  Targeting BRCA Mutations in Pancreatic Cancer

3. Russell O. Pieper, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco, CA
Project:  Improving Intregrin-Targeted Therapies for Glioma

4. Marcus Peter, Ph.D.
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Project:  Treatment of Ovarian Cancer with MicroRNA’s:  Targeting the Achilles Heel of Cancer

5. Hiroaki Kiyokawa, M.D., Ph.D.
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Project:  Customized Therapy Specifically for the Aggressive Subpopulation of Breast Cancer

6. Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Ph.D.
University of California, Irvine, CA
Project:  Focusing on the interplay between the circadian clock and cell machinery to better understand the progression of breast cancer