UALR Bowen School of Law Dean John DiPippa recently assisted in the evaluation process for research applications to the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) sponsored by the Department of Defense.

The Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation nominated the dean of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law, a two-year prostate cancer survivor, to participate in the evaluation process as a consumer reviewer. He was a full voting member of the evaluation panel that determined how to allocate the $80 million Congress appropriated for this research in the 2011 fiscal year.

Consumer reviewers represent the collective view of prostate cancer survivors, patients, family members, and people at risk for the disease. DiPippa said this role is particularly important because many of the doctors involved in the review process do not have the opportunity to interact directly with someone impacted by prostate cancer.

“This is an opportunity to help find a cure for a disease that kills over 30,000 men per year and to help those suffering with the advanced stages of the disease,” he said. “The average man diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer survives only 18 months. Hopefully, these treatment trials will extend lives and improve the quality of those lives.”

DiPippa took his job – that of providing perspective on cancer treatment – seriously, calling doctors’ attention to the possibility that a patient would not want to volunteer as testing subjects for some of the treatments.

“Many of these doctors don’t have the chance to hear what it’s like to have prostate cancer, so my presence in that room could be considered more important than anything else I had to say about the proposed research,” DiPippa said.

DiPippa is chair-elect for the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation.