A transformational gift from generous donors will make it possible for Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield to partner with Wayne State University in Detroit to share clinical and outcome data to support advanced cancer research.
Dr. Lakshmi Gavini and her husband, Dr. Vinaya Gavini, made the multi-million-dollar gift (the amount was not disclosed) to enhance the course of cancer care, research, and medical training in southeast Michigan, where they each practiced medicine for more than 40 years before retiring to Orlando.
Lakshmi Gavini, an obstetrician/gynecologist, was on the medical staff at Ascension Providence Hospital in Southfield and served as chief of gynecology and minimally invasive surgery. Vinaya Gavini, a pediatrician who specialized in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was also on the Ascension Providence Hospital medical staff.
In recognition of the Gavinis’ cumulative level of giving to the hospital, the Ascension Providence Cancer Center in Southfield will be named the Ascension Providence Hospital CK Potluri Cancer Center, for Lakshmi’s parents, Chalapathi and Krupa Potluri.
Ascension Providence Hospital has an established research program with qualified Physicians. The Gavinis’ support will allow the Ascension Providence Hospital CK Potluri Cancer Center to partner with WSU to conduct translational oncology research, which takes scientific discoveries from the laboratory and transforms them into new treatments and approaches to medical care to improve the health of the population.
The Ascension Providence Hospital CK Potluri Cancer Center plans to focus on advanced cancer research in non-invasive new generation genomic testing to enhance precision diagnosis and treatment. In addition to the current therapeutic research projects conducted at the center, the Gavinis gift will further enhance research opportunities for oncology fellows.
Dr. Abdulghani Sankari, director of medical eEducation, Ascension Providence Hospital, and Dr. Wael Sakr, dean of the WSU School of Medicine, named a team from both institutions to launch a strategic initiative that meets Lakshmi Gavini’s vision. The first research project will be a collaboration with Asfar Azmi, WSU associate professor of oncology and leader of the Molecular Therapeutics Program and director of pancreas cancer research at Karmanos Cancer Institute; and the Ascension Providence Hospital hematology/oncology team of Dr. Susan Lyons, and Dr. Shoshana Rothstein, first-year fellow. Sankari will assist with providing oversight of the Ascension Providence Oncology collaboration and research endeavors.
The focus of the first collaborative project is pancreatic cancer, a disease with high morbidity and mortality. The project utilizes genomic sequencing, focusing on the development of blood-based biomarkers that are predictive of therapy response and resistance for advanced pancreatic cancer.
The gift will support training programs in translational cancer research to develop future clinical investigators and clinical research fellows. Each year, Ascension Providence Hospital residents, fellows and faculty attending physicians will have access to Azmi’s laboratory for specialized training in translational cancer research.
In Michigan, Ascension operates 16 hospitals and hundreds of related health care facilities that together employ more than 21,000 associates. In FY2022, Ascension provided $2.3 billion in care of persons living in poverty and other community benefit programs.
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