A Survivor Gives Back

James Estes Supports Lung Cancer Research Through UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center

Pat and James Estes

Retired Tuscaloosa businessman and lung cancer survivor James Estes is known for his generosity, his visionary approach to giving, and his commitment to funding cancer cures. In November 2009, The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees honored those qualities and Estes with the establishment of the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Estes donated $1.5 million to establish the endowed chair, enabling UAB to recruit and retain an exceptional researcher, academician, and clinician who will further the Cancer Center’s research efforts in lung cancer and help provide better treatments while searching for a cure. He also has provided a gift to establish the James H. Estes Family Lung Cancer Research Sponsored Support Fund, which will expand the center’s scientific studies on the disease.

Estes and his family have supported other cancer research initiatives at UAB, including the Estes Research Fund for Ovarian Cancer. In 2006, he made another generous donation to help the Cancer Center launch Courage Companions, a free, one-on-one support network that pairs cancer survivors with current patients and their caregivers. It is the only one-on-one support program of its kind in Alabama, and enrollment is open to any cancer patient receiving care at UAB or anywhere in the Southeast. Estes is the founder of Estes Nursing Home System. A past president of the Alabama Nursing Home Association and appointee to the Alabama Senior Service Board, he also served as a member of the finance committee of the American Nursing Home Association.

“The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center is extremely grateful to Mr. Estes for all of his support,” says Cancer Center director Edward Partridge, M.D. “His generous support will allow us to move our lung cancer research programs to the next level.”

Robert Cerfolio and James Estes

Robert J. Cerfolio, M.D., has been appointed to the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research. Cerfolio joined the faculty of the UAB Department of Surgery in 1996, becoming professor and section chief of thoracic surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2006. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Cerfolio has served as a visiting professor in hospitals around the world, including China, England, Germany, Sweden, and Brazil.

“I am truly honored and blessed to have met Mr. Estes and his family and to now hold the endowed chair that bears his name,” Cerfolio says. “Mr. Estes and his entire family have long been faithful supporters of UAB. We plan on using his very generous gift to support and improve our many clinical research projects on the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care of patients with lung cancer.”

Maintaining the Momentum / Summer 2010