The runway felt natural for former model Lee Carlisle, M.D., now medical director of CTRC’s Ambulatory Surgical Center.
SAN ANTONIO (October 14, 2009) — Saks Fifth Avenue San Antonio is partnering with the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio with its Key to the Cure charity shopping weekend Thursday through Sunday. Both organizations promoted the campaign with a fall style show featuring CTRC patients and doctors as fashion models.
About 100 people turned out Oct. 8 at the North Star Mall store to see fashions from Italian designer La Via 18 and the Saks Men’s Collection modeled by nearly a dozen men and women with little runway experience. Some of the models were cancer survivors who took time away from business and families to raise awareness about cancer. Others were patients and doctors whose days are normally spent in a clinic giving or receiving cancer treatment or in a laboratory developing anti-cancer therapies.
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After battling ovarian cancer for 10 years, Elizabeth Boyer’s disease is now under control with an investigational treatment she receives at CTRC.
During the charity shopping weekend, Saks will donate two percent of its sales to the CTRC’s Gynecological Oncology Program. This program conducts research and provides comprehensive treatment to women with cancers of the reproductive tract, which includes the cervix, ovaries and uterus.
Throughout October, the CTRC will benefit from sales of the Saks 2009 Key to the Cure limited-edition T-shirt, designed by Michael Kors. For every $40 shirt sold at the Saks store at North Star Mall, Saks will donate $32 to the CTRC.
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One the day of the show, Saks’s marketing director announced that San Antonio’s store led the nation, even the flagship Manhattan store, in sales of its 2009 Key to the Cure T-shirt, showcased by professional models.
The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the nation’s leading academic research and treatment centers, serving more than 4.4 million people in the high-growth corridor of Central and South Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. CTRC is one of a few elite cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designated Cancer Center, and is one of only three in Texas. A world leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer, The CTRC Institute for Drug Development (IDD) is internationally recognized for conducting the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug trials program in the world, and participates in the clinical and/or preclinical development of many of the cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit the Web site at www.ctrc.net.
Saks Fifth Avenue, one of the world’s pre-eminent specialty retailers, is renowned for its superlative American and international designer collections, its expertly edited assortment of handbags, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and home furnishings, and the first-rate fashion expertise and exemplary client service of its Associates. Today, Saks operates 53 full-line stores in 25 states, 3 licensed stores in the Middle East and 1 licensed store in Mexico City, 48 Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores and saks.com, the company’s online store.