Letter of Appreciation from Vanderbuilt University

Marta A. Crispens, MD, MBA

Ronald D. Alvarez, MD, MBA

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

October 2025

We are profoundly thankful for The Morrow Foundation’s ongoing support of research into innovative strategies for ovarian cancer screening at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Because of your generosity we have been able to develop novel imaging technologies that will support potentially paradigm-changing work in early detection. We deeply appreciate your commitment and are grateful for your continued collaboration.

Overview

According to the American Cancer Society, 20,890 women in the US will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 12,730 will die of the disease in 2025 – making ovarian cancer one of the deadliest gynecologic malignancies. A major reason for the high mortality rate is that there is no effective screening for ovarian cancer and it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage.

Current State of Screening

Several large, prospective studies have shown that screening with pelvic ultrasound and Ca-125 blood testing did not lead to earlier diagnosis or better outcomes in women who developed ovarian cancer. While pelvic ultrasound provides excellent visualizations of the ovaries and is somewhat effective at distinguishing which masses are benign versus malignant, it does not provide the same level of visualization of the fallopian tube. Pathological evaluation of the fallopian tubes and ovaries that were removed to decrease ovarian cancer risk in women with a genetic predisposition to ovarian cancer showed that the most lethal pre-cancerous and early cancerous lesions were most often found in the fallopian tube, not the ovary.

Previous generous donations from the Morrow Family Foundation funded investigations led by Dr. Arthur Fleischer which demonstrated that with the use of microbubble contrast injected intravenously, 3D ultrasound technology, and postexam computer-aided image processing excellent images of the interior of the fallopian tube could be obtained.

Expanding upon this, Dr. Todd Giorgio in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, has received a Department of Defense grant to develop the next generation of ultrasound contrast agents. His team is developing a process for labeling microbubbles with proteins for which the receptors are upregulated in the tumor microvasculature. This strategy has the potential for both improved early detection and for the delivery of therapeutic agents directly to tumors arising in the fallopian tube.

Developing a blood marker for ovarian and fallopian tube cancers would be a less invasive and less expensive approach to early detection. Extracellular vesicles are stable, small particles surrounded by cell membrane that are released from both cancerous and normal cells. They contain molecules that cells use to communicate, and which are indicative of the cell of origin. In cancers, they may promote a protumorigenic and immunosuppressive environment that promotes tumor cell growth. Because they are stable in the blood, they are an ideal target for early detection.

Thank You for Making a Difference

None of this would be possible without the generosity of donors like you. Our team has translated funding from the Morrow Family Foundation to the development of novel fallopian tube imaging technologies. We have leveraged the investment of the Morrow Family Foundation to develop the preliminary data that has allowed our investigators to successfully compete for federal funding to continue their research. We also acknowledge the Foundation’s commitment to developing new strategies for the early detection of ovarian cancer and their desire to fund an Ovarian Cancer Early Detection Scholar, and as such, are delighted to name Dr. Todd Giorgio as the first award recipient. Dr. Giorgio will be using the Morrow Family Foundation gift to develop a proof of principle for the detection of ovarian and fallopian tube cancer extracellular vesicles in the blood in a mouse model, following which we will perform confirmatory studies in human specimens. We are tremendously grateful to the Morrow Family Foundation for their support, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with you.

(Download pdf of letter here)