Investors Bank Joins Cooper Foundation to Support Lung Cancer Research

The Jim Fifis Lung Cancer Research Fund at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper recently received a $5,000 grant from the Investors Bank Foundation, in partnership with the Roma Bank Community Foundation.

“This donation will help us provide the best possible care to lung cancer patients at MD Anderson Cooper,” said Susan Bass Levin, President and CEO of The Cooper Foundation. “We thank Investors Bank for sharing our commitment to advancing research that will improve the way we diagnosis and treat lung cancer.”

The Cooper Foundation applied for the grant from Investors Foundation and Roma Bank Community Foundation; Roma Bank became part of Investors Bank in early 2014. The foundations support non-profit organizations that enrich diverse communities served by Investors Bank.

Since its founding in 2011, the Jim Fifis Lung Cancer Research Fund has raised more than $500,000 for lung cancer programs and research at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.

The Fund was created by Nick, John and Chris Fifis to honor their father, Jim Fifis, the late owner of Ponzio’s restaurant in Cherry Hill, who lost his battle with lung cancer in 2007. The Fund provides support for clinical research programs, the High Risk Lung Cancer Screening Program, clinical trials, diagnostic tools such as endobronchial ultrasound, and the Patient in Need Fund, which assists lung cancer patients at MD Anderson Cooper with small grants to pay for transportation, prescriptions, utilities and food, when all other sources have been exhausted.

“Recognizing that lung cancer rates in Southern New Jersey exceed the high level set in the rest of the state, Investors Bank understands that early detection and clinical trials are the most effective weapons in diagnosing and treating this disease,” said Investors Bank’s Angela Venti, Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager – Marlton Office.

MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper is an integrated partnership between Cooper University Health Care and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses and other clinical specialists work together to provide cancer patients with advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies, access to groundbreaking clinical trials, and dynamic patient-physician relationships. Cooper’s Lung Cancer Center is the leading provider in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in southern New Jersey.

About Investors Bank

Investors Bank is a full-service community bank that has been serving customers since 1926. With more than $20.3 billion in assets and more than 135 retail branches in New Jersey, New York City and Long Island, Investors Bank delivers personalized services and products tailored to the needs of its customers. Investors’ consumer banking services include complete deposit products, online banking, home equity loans and lines of credit and a full array of mortgage loans. Serving the business community, Investors provides deposit accounts, cash management services, business loans and lines of credit, and commercial real estate financing solutions to small and middle market companies, professional services firms, municipalities and other businesses. Investors Bank is a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.

About The Cooper Foundation/Cooper University Health Care

The Cooper Foundation serves as the philanthropic, community outreach and community development arm of Cooper University Health Care, one of the largest health systems in southern New Jersey with more than 100 outpatient offices, and its flagship, Cooper University Hospital, located in Camden, NJ. It is the premier university hospital serving South Jersey and the Delaware Valley. Cooper has reaffirmed its role as a leader in medical education and research with the opening of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in 2012, the first four-year allopathic medical school in South Jersey. Cooper is renowned for signature programs in cardiology, cancer, critical care, pediatrics, trauma, orthopedics and neurosciences. Cooper also is home to the only state-designated Children’s Hospital in South Jersey – the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper. Over the last decade, Cooper has transformed its Camden City neighborhood into the Cooper Health Sciences Campus. In October 2013, the new MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, a freestanding cancer center for comprehensive care, opened on the Health Sciences Campus.