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(UCSD Press Release)

DR. Georgia Robins Sadler Receives the

13th Annual Rell Sunn “Queen of Makaha” Award

(photo of Georgia Sadler in the blue gown, with her husband Blair and friends Dr. Jeffrey and Carol Chang at The Charity Ball in 2005)

La Jolla, California – The Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center today announced that Dr. Georgia Robins Sadler, BSN, MBA, PhD, the associate director for community outreach and clinical professor of surgery at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, will receive the 2006 Rell Sunn “Queen of Makaha” Award in recognition of her commitment to the battle against cancer and serving the community.

The award, established in 1998, is named after Rell Kapolioka'ehukai Sunn, a legendary Hawai’ian surfer and goodwill ambassador known as the “Queen of Makaha.” She passed away on Jan. 2, 1998 at the age of 47 after a 15-year battle against cancer. During her entire fight with the disease, Rell gave freely of herself and indelibly affected each and every person with whom she came in contact with.

This perpetual trophy is awarded each year to the person or persons who best display the qualities shared by Rell and the UCSD Cancer Center Luau and Longboard Invitational, which includes the battle against cancer, combined with unselfishness, compassion and a dedication to helping others that embodies the true aloha spirit.

The award will be formally presented to Dr. Sadler at the 13th annual Luau & Longboard Invitational held at The Scripps Institution of Oceanography on August 20, 2006.

“It’s humbling to receive an award named after such a remarkable woman,” said Dr. Sadler. “The Rell Sunn award is also inspiring, making you want to serve the community even more.”

Dr. Sadler is renown for working with members of the community to effectively bring the message of cancer awareness and prevention to often-overlooked groups in San Diego, including the deaf community, African-Americans and the Asian-Pacific community. Many of these innovative and award-winning efforts work through culturally relevant settings and groups, such as churches, beauty salons and specialty grocery stores.

“The most rewarding part of my work in the fight against cancer is developing partnerships with the community where we work together toward a common goal,” said Dr. Sadler, emphasizing the word “together.” “It’s also the most fun. I get to talk to real people in real-life situations where they tell me what they need and what they think might work, and you can see that by working together we can put together programs that really work and make a difference.”

Dr. Sadler is the incoming president-elect for the California division of the American Cancer Society. She also holds, or has held, many key voluntary leadership positions that enrich the Cancer Center’s relationships in the region and state. These current and recent past board memberships include: the San Diego and Imperial Counties Breast Cancer Early Detection Partnership (and past chairperson); the San Diego Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; American Melanoma Foundation; WellStart International Board; the California Institute for Health Systems Performance; the ACS’s Statewide Prostate Cancer Initiative; and the HomeCare Board of Advisors.

She is also a health adviser to several of the region’s elected officials, providing counsel on clinical trials, cancer prevention, and early detection and treatment issues. Her civic involvement stretches into the arts, as she has been deeply involved with the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory for more than a decade. She is the immediate past president of the organization’s board of directors.

Past winners of the Rell Sunn award include Dr. J. Craig Venter, chairman of the Board of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the former president and founder of Celera Genomics; Alex Szekely, a leading advocate of the “total health” concept - incorporating the well being of one's body, mind and spirit into a single package for lifelong health and happiness; and Dr. John Greif, an attending surgeon at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Diego, where he chairs the Area Cancer Committee.

The Moores UCSD Cancer Center Luau & Longboard Invitational raises money every year to finance promising cancer research projects at the UCSD Cancer Center. To date, the Luau has raised more than $1.5 million for the UCSD Cancer Center.

The UCSD Cancer Center Luau & Longboard Invitational brings together surfing legends from around the world, local celebrities and corporate executives to benefit cancer treatment and research. The event features a friendly but competitive longboarding contest in the morning, followed by a private luau with Polynesian-themed food and entertainment, and live and silent auctions of surf memorabilia. This year’s event will also feature official art from John Van Hamersveld, creator of the artwork for the iconic surf film “The Endless Summer.” Van Hamersveld’s art will be used on event T-shirts and memorabilia.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities, team entries, tickets and event activities, contact the Moores UCSD Cancer Center at (858) 822-0023, or visit the Luau’s Web site at www.longboardluau.org.

About the Moores UCSD Cancer Center

Founded in 1979, UCSD Cancer Center was recently renamed the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center in honor of the Moores’ leadership gift to the Center. The Center is one of just 39 in the United States to hold a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. As such, it ranks among the top centers in the nation conducting basic and clinical cancer research, providing advanced patient care and serving the community through outreach and education programs. The center’s mission is to translate promising scientific discoveries into new and better options for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and the amelioration of pain. For more information, visit http://cancer.ucsd.edu.

TMTM