Northern Indiana Cancer Research Coalition (NICRC) is pleased to honor Dr. Michael Rodriguez as the “NICRC Tissue Banking Champion”

in recognition of his efforts to promote accrual to the Tissue Biorepository at the Harper Cancer Research Institute (HCRI; http://harpercancer.nd.edu/resources-links/biosample-repository/).  Dr. Rodriguez has been instrumental in working with the NICRC, the South Bend Medical Foundation and the HCRI Tissue Biorepository to facilitate procedures for patient informed consent and streamline post-operative tissue collection.  A centralized Biorepository for cancer research will help accomplish the HCRI mission to conduct innovative and integrative research to confront the complex challenges of cancer and will serve as a platform for active interchange of ideas, expertise and resources between basic or translational researchers and clinicians during collaborative studies.  We applaud Dr. Rodriguez and his colleagues in surgical oncology, the NICRC research nurses, pathologists at the South Bend Medical Foundation and HCRI Tissue Biorepository personnel for their efforts to insure that properly preserved and annotated de-identified human tumor specimens are available for study as new research ideas and early detection technologies emerge.