Vanderbilt dedicates cancer building to honor music industry leader Preston

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt University Chancellor Gordon Gee dedicated the Frances Williams Preston Building today in honor of the music industry leader’s support of cancer research and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

Preston, president and CEO of the performing rights organization BMI, is president of the board of the T,J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research. The foundation established the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at Vanderbilt in 1993. Since then, the foundation has provided more than $5 million for research in breast, prostate, colon, ovarian and lung cancers.

The naming of the building for Preston also honors the Martell Foundation for its support, including a recent commitment of $10 million – augmented by a $6 million anonymous donation – to fund additional innovative research.

"This generous gift is not building a building," said Dr. Harold L. Moses, director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. "It is fueling scientific discoveries that we hope will one day make a difference for those faced with cancer."

The 54,000-square-foot expansion to the eight-story building, which first opened in 1995, provides Vanderbilt-Ingram with a marquee entrance for its research and clinical activities, consolidates its administrative functions, and allows creation in the coming months of important additional research and treatment areas.

Designed by Earl Swensson Associates, the exapansion includes a two-story lobby and information center and a conference center outfitted with sophisticated technology to support scientific meetings and community education programs.

The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is the only Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer Institute in Tennessee, and one of only 40 nationwide. This designation is the highest ranking awarded to cancer centers by the world’s foremost authority on cancer. To learn more about the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, visit www.vicc.org.

The T.J Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research, founded by the music industry, is dedicated to raising funds for innovative research for treatments and cures of cancer, leukemia and AIDS. The foundation sponsors medical research laboratories in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville and has raised more than $160 million in its 26-year history. To learn more, visit the foundation’s website at www.tjmartellfoundation.org.