Rutgers Basketball Coach and Hall of Fame Inductee Headlines Providence Cancer Center Luncheon

April 30, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. — Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer has had her share of wins and losses — on the court and off. On Thursday, May 7, Stringer, a recent inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, will share her triumph over breast cancer during Providence Cancer Center’s 11th annual Positive Perspectives: Creating Hope for Cancer Patients Luncheon at the Oregon Convention Center.

As the third most successful coach in women’s college basketball and the first coach – men’s or women’s – to take three different schools to the NCAA Final Four, Stringer is a consummate leader and stepped out of the limelight when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. Only a few people in her inner circle knew about it; she didn’t confide in her family members or the young women on her team.

However, Stringer did connect with another breast cancer survivor. While they never met in person, they shared very important conversations on the phone.

“It was a relief to talk to someone who had been there,” says Stringer. “She understood how scared, how angry and how betrayed I felt. She’d had all the same feelings, but she was on the other side of it.”

Stringer will share the podium with Walter Urba, M.D., Ph.D., director of research for Providence Cancer Center. Dr. Urba will share the hope of Providence Cancer Center and its team of physicians, scientists, nurses, counselors and other staff who work passionately every day to help patients win their fight against cancer.

Providence Cancer Center serves more cancer patients than any other health system in Oregon and conducts leading research in immunotherapy and biotherapy.

The Positive Perspectives Luncheon raises funds to support cancer research efforts that take place in the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center in the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute at Providence Portland Medical Center.