Annual tournament generates money for cancer research, increases its donor status level
An annual golf outing in memory of a former Hormel Foods plant manager has led to more than $3,000 donated this year for cancer research at The Hormel Institute.
Officials with the Deryl Arnold Memorial Golf Tournament presented a check for $3,662 to Dr. Zigang Dong, Executive Director of The Hormel Institute in Austin. The entire donation will directly fund The Hormel Institute’s world-renowned cancer research.
Elton Edland, Heath Garey and Matt Swigerd, all from Hormel Foods Corp., came to the Institute last week to present the tourney’s donation and view the their new plaque on the Donor Recognition Wall in The Hormel Institute’s lobby.
This year’s donation qualified the Deryl Arnold Memorial Golf Tournament for a new plaque because the tournament’s overall gift has reached $5,000.
“We remain deeply grateful to our generous community and their unwavering support of our research,” said Dr. Zigang Dong. “We can show our appreciation by making strides to control cancer as quickly as we can – that is our goal.”
Recognition on the Donor Wall starts at $300, with plaques displaying various giving levels. Donations can accumulate over time (such as through memorials) and The Hormel Institute will contact donors when a recognition level has been reached.
The Deryl Arnold Memorial Golf Tourney has been going on for 20 years, with money raised by the event benefiting the Institute in recent years. This year, golfers gathered Aug. 2 at the Cedar River Country Club in Adams, Minn., for the tournament.
Dr. Joshua Liao, head of the Translational Cancer Research lab, spoke to the golfers about his research and the importance of supporting The Hormel Institute financially.
The Hormel Institute’s publishing record remains one of the top in the world. In the past year, the Institute’s research has been featured twice on the cover of Cancer Research, the top U.S. cancer research journal – once in June 2009 for work led by Dr. Dong and Dr. Yong Yeon Cho, and again in September 2010 for work led by associate director Dr. Ann Bode.
In 2010, Dr. Bode and Dr. Dong learned that their research in the world’s top cancer journal, Nature Reviews Cancer (Oxford, England), was the most-cited paper in the field of Molecular Biology and Genetics from 2004-2009 (according to Thomson Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators).
The Hormel Institute specializes in research leading to cancer prevention and control. Currently it has 11 cancer research departments and 130 faculty and staff members.
