LOS ANGELES, April 24 (UPI) -- A brain tumor center honoring the late U.S. lawyer Johnnie Cochran Jr. will be opened soon in Los Angeles at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"The new Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Brain Tumor Center serves as a coordination point for the physicians who specialize in clinical trials, the data managers, and the clinical research nurses who interface with the Food and Drug Administration and institutional review boards to manage human studies," said Dr. Keith Black, the chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai.
"New discoveries and potential therapies will undergo the same extensive scrutiny as before but the center and its dedicated personnel will allow us to streamline the process, efficiently advancing basic research findings into early human studies," said Black, who will serve as the center's director.
The facility honors Cochran who died as the result of a brain tumor. His family, which has supplied financial support for the facility, said it hopes new discoveries will lead to better treatments and even cures.
May 3 opening ceremonies -- taking place during National Brain Tumor Week -- will begin with a morning dedication and conclude with an evening invitation-only gala.
