Our Logo

 

Since our modest beginnings, our logo has changed significantly. Our original logo was made up of a crossed trowel and pick overlaid on a red crab in a black circular frame containing PRO's name in white. The crossed trowel and pick represented the role of archaeology in the Paleo-oncology Research Organization's mission. The crab, which is still an integral part of our logo, is a reference to the history of cancer. 

In the 5th century BCE, Hippocrates was the first known physician to describe a breast cancer lesion. The shape of the lesion - with a central mass and radiating blood vessels - prompted Hippocrates to describe the lesion in relation to a crab, karkinos in Greek. Celsus (ca. 25BCE-50CE) later translated this term to the Latin noun meaning crab, and the modern name of malignant neoplastic disease, cancer. As this crustacean links to both the origin of the word cancer, the history of medicine and first medical description of cancer, we embraced this symbol as an appropriate representation of PRO's mission to uncover cancer's past. 

In 2015, PRO was among 3 nonprofits to be awarded the grand prize for Microsoft and Fast Company's joint initiative, CreateGOOD. This initiative was established to help launch nonprofits believed to ****... in addition to the honor of being awarded the CreateGOOD grand prize, PRO was given an invaluable opportunity to have a representative attend the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity, where creative geniuses from Microsoft contributed ideas for our logo and helped PRO shape their image for the future. 

Having a more solid vision for a logo, PRO launched a logo design contest using 99designs.com, recommended by Fast Company.