In the pursuit of cures that not only save patients but also improve their quality of life, The Pap Corps Champions for Cancer Research made a historic annual donation to Sylvester, continuing a remarkable partnership seven decades in the making.

Thanks to its members’ ceaseless work in the past year, they presented a ceremonial check for $8.4 million to Antonio Iavarone, M.D., the deputy director of Sylvester, during its annual president’s meeting on May 18. The amount is the group’s largest yearly donation to Sylvester, which is South Florida’s only NCI-designated cancer center.

Sally Berenzweig, CEO of The Pap Corps; Jayne Malfitano, president and director, Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation and chair of the Sylvester Board of Governors; Antonio Iavarone, M.D.; and Susan Dinter, chair of The Pap Corps.

“Today was one of the most exciting days in the history of The Pap Corps,” said Susan Dinter, chair of The Pap Corps. “We are so grateful for the remarkable support of our members, who work tirelessly year after year to fund these multimillion- dollar donations, and to our benevolent donors, whose commitment to our mission inspires us all! For 70 years, we have supported cancer research and will continue to do so until a cure can be found.

The donation is part of The Pap Corps’ landmark 2016 pledge of $50 million to Sylvester, which named Sylvester at Deerfield Beach as The Pap Corps campus. A portion of this year’s gift will be used for the construction of Sylvester’s Griffin Cancer Research Building, a 12-story, cutting-edge facility on the University of Miami medical campus that will double Sylvester’s research footprint and change the face of cancer research in South Florida. It is scheduled to open in 2025.

Named after Dr. George Papanicolaou, who introduced the Pap smear in 1928, The Pap Corps was started in 1952 by five visionary women who were driven by the lack of early detection and treatment of cancer. Today, it is South Florida’s largest volunteer fundraising organization, with more than 22,000 members and 52 chapters, and it has raised more than $110 million for cancer research at Sylvester.

It is because of the strong partnership between The Pap Corps and Sylvester that UHealth has been able to open 10 locations throughout South Florida, including The Pap Corps campus.