Donor Recognition

Last fall, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute patients, families, and supporters joined forces to defy cancer at the 35th annual Boston Marathon^® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai, which raises the most money of any single-day walk in the nation. Year after year, dedicated walkers gather on the world-famous Boston Marathon^® course for a day of hope, unity, and inspiration, fueling critical advancements in cancer treatment. The October 1 event was marked by more than 8,400 enthusiastic participants coming together to raise a record-breaking $9.4 million for The Dana-Farber Campaign and provide critical momentum to innovative scientific discovery and compassionate patient care. It was a milestone year for Dana-Farber’s signature event, propelling the Walk’s cumulative fundraising total to more than $176 million raised since its inception in 1989.

The Walk served as a magnificent capstone to the Jimmy Fund’s 75th anniversary year, and a reminder of the power of its grassroots community. Walkers, corporate sponsors, volunteers, and their supporters all played a pivotal role in the event’s success, including presenting sponsor Hyundai, which has supported the Walk since 1998.

Jimmy Fund Walk participants could walk virtually in a location of their choice or from a distance along the Boston Marathon course—ranging from a 5K to a 26.2-mile marathon—with all in-person routes culminating in a finish line celebration. Along the course, walkers were supported by more than 700 volunteers and treated to complimentary snacks and water provided by generous sponsors. Traditionally, finish line festivities take place at Copley Square in Boston, but with construction underway at the landmark site, it shifted to the Fenway Park neighborhood. There, walkers celebrated 35 years of progress with lively music, food, motivational speeches, and more within view of the historic baseball stadium.

Kristy Spears led team #MaleiaStrong in a virtual Jimmy Fund Walk in her hometown of Crestview, Fla. Kristy walks in memory of her daughter Maleia, a pediatric brain tumor patient who was treated in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. “It is the best place to be when faced with the horrific, life-changing words, ‘Your child has cancer,’” Kristy says.

The closeness and camaraderie of the Jimmy Fund Walk drew Kristy in. “The walkers are there due to a direct connection to someone who has been well-loved and cared for at Dana-Farber. After our daughter surrendered her fight, getting involved simply felt natural. It was an opportunity to give back to a place that had given us extra time and memories with our beloved daughter.” Since the team’s inaugural Walk in 2022, #MaleiaStrong has raised more than $70,600.

Each dollar raised by walkers like Kristy adds up to an extraordinary sum that will significantly impact the future of cancer care. While a lot has changed in the 35 years since the first Jimmy Fund Walk, its growing community remains profoundly bonded by a fierce determination to defy cancer—in honor of the patients they walk for, and in the spirit of those who walked before them.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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In November 2023, Dana-Farber Trustee Judy Hale, Dana-Farber Trustee Karen Hale, Rob Hale, Elizabeth Hale Kendall, and Richard Kendall were awarded the Sidney Farber Medical Research Award in recognition of the Hale Family’s outstanding contributions and service to the Institute for many decades. Dana-Farber’s highest honor, the Sidney Farber Medical Research Award was established in 1968 in appreciation of the contributions Sidney Farber, MD, made to medicine and to the development and support of cancer care and research around the world.

The Hale Family name has become synonymous with Dana-Farber’s focused efforts to understand, prevent, and treat pancreatic cancer, and their philanthropy has made the Institute a worldwide leader and pioneer in this work. “It is a disease that really needs champions,” says Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center, and the Robert T. and Judith B. Hale Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at Dana-Farber. “The Hale Family’s commitment to making an impact has built a foundation of collaboration and innovation that has accelerated pancreatic cancer research, translated discoveries to the clinic, and improved patient outcomes.”

The Hale Family’s support of Dana-Farber honors the memory of Judy’s late husband, Robert “Bob” T. Hale Sr., who was a generous philanthropist in his own right and who was treated at Dana-Farber for pancreatic cancer.

In 2007, Bob and Judy Hale established the Robert T. Hale Sr. and Judith B. Hale Fund for Pancreatic Research. In 2012, Judy made a $10 million gift to establish the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer and name the Robert T. and Judith B. Hale Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at Dana-Farber. The Hale Family’s commitment to research and care has continued across the generations as Judy, along with her son and daughter-in-law, Rob and Karen, made an additional $15 million gift in 2016, and a tremendous $50 million gift in 2021 to establish and further support the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research. This latest gift represents the largest single gift to pancreatic cancer research in the Institute’s history and one of the largest gifts to The Dana-Farber Campaign. With this gift, the Hale Family’s cumulative giving to Dana-Farber surpassed $80 million, making them the second largest individual donors to the Institute.

So much of Dana-Farber’s progress in pancreatic cancer can be traced to the Hale Family’s involvement and leadership. “With the Hales’ support, we are pushing the frontiers of what is possible, and we will not rest until we find cures for this devastating disease—for all the patients we serve today, and those all around the world who look to us for hope,” reflects Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine.

While this award is embedded in Judy’s heart forever, she continues to focus on the biggest prize of all: “I am thinking big and hope to make a difference in erasing this miserable disease for everyone around the globe. When pancreatic cancer is no more, I hope that the Hale Center will have been a leader in this victory.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Jimmy Fund Golf presented by Mohegan Sun marked another ace year in 2023, with an array of dedicated tournament directors, sponsors, and supporters across the country raising more than $6.8 million for The Dana-Farber Campaign. Through more than 140 tournaments and events, participants proved that everyone can make a difference in Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund’s lifesaving mission to defy cancer.

It was a particularly exciting time to be involved with the program, as 2023 also marked the 75th anniversary of the Jimmy Fund itself. Since 1983, funds raised through Jimmy Fund Golf have turned groundbreaking research into lifesaving treatments for adults and children with all forms of cancer.

“Jimmy Fund Golf is essential to the impact our larger Jimmy Fund community has had on cancer research and care at Dana-Farber over the last 75 years,” says Suzanne Fountain, vice president of the Jimmy Fund. “The funds raised from the fairways have directly moved the needle closer to a world without cancer.”

Learn more about all 2023 tournaments.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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With philanthropic support from the Scarlet Feather Fund, Dana-Farber’s Kira Bona, MD, MPH, and Christopher Lathan, MD, MS, MPH, chief clinical access and equity officer and the Hadley Family Chair at Dana-Farber, are leading bold, innovative approaches that aim to reduce disparities in outcomes for adult and pediatric cancer patients. In the United States, longstanding structural inequities drive social determinants of health—the conditions and environments in which people are born, live, and work—resulting in striking disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes. As an international leader across the continuum of cancer research and care, Dana-Farber is dedicated to being on the forefront of initiatives aimed at reducing disparities and ensuring that expert, innovative, and compassionate care is accessible and effective for everyone.

In the adult cancer setting, Lathan and the Cancer Care Equity Program (CCEP) team aim to provide those who have been historically excluded from receiving equitable access to health care with streamlined pathways to Dana-Farber’s expert and integrated care. Key initiatives of the CCEP include the expansion of Dana-Farber’s community-focused patient navigators who identify and engage—as early as possible—those patients facing socioeconomic and structural barriers to care who would benefit from rapid, personalized support.

The Scarlet Feather Fund’s gift is also supporting the launch of a pilot “Ambulatory Safety Net” focused on mitigating risk of missed and delayed cancer screening and follow-up to abnormal test results. This new pilot program, planned in collaboration with community hospital partners of Dana-Farber – Merrimack Valley, one of Dana-Farber’s regional campuses serving the Institute’s largest population of historically marginalized patients, will help ensure the timely completion of cancer screening and connection to specialty care. Lastly, the gift will assist with the expansion of CCEP’s on-site cancer diagnostics clinics at Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Bona’s research has shown that children with cancer who live in poverty have higher rates of relapse and lower survival, even when treated on the same clinical trials. How pediatric oncologists can intervene to mitigate this risk of relapse is the focus of research being supported by the Scarlet Feather Fund. The gift supports Bona’s team in developing the first health equity interventions ever designed or tested in childhood cancer that target risk factors like food or transportation insecurity—a process similar to developing new drugs to target tumor characteristics. “This funding is speeding the development of a portfolio of these novel interventions,” says Bona, “and has concurrently allowed us to strategize how we will sustain effective pediatric health equity interventions once we develop them.” 

Philanthropy is critical to the success of these care and research initiatives. By supporting these projects, the Scarlet Feather Fund and other philanthropic partners are strengthening Dana-Farber’s ability to ensure that adult and pediatric patients from historically marginalized communities have equitable paths to defy cancer.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research has awarded Dana-Farber investigator Catherine Wu, MD, and two investigators at the Broad Institute a $3 million, three-year grant to further their research into personalized, T cell-directed cancer immunotherapy.

Wu and her Broad Institute colleagues are one of four teams selected for The Mark Foundation’s 2023 Endeavor Awards. The goal of these prestigious grants, the foundation says, is “to support teams of scientists tackling a range of urgent challenges in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.” Since 2021, the cancer-focused nonprofit has distributed $30 million in Endeavor Awards “to accelerate progress in high-priority research areas through a collaborative approach.”

Wu is the chief of Dana-Farber’s Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies and a Lavine Family Chair for Preventative Cancer Therapies. She and her team are working to better understand the biological mechanisms behind potentially lifesaving T cell-directed therapies that kill cancer cells and tumors. While such therapies have been transformative for some patients, several factors prevent them from being more widely effective, particularly against solid tumors.

The researchers are using samples from patients with colorectal cancer and high-grade serous ovarian cancer to develop new ways of boosting the efficacy of tumor-reactive T cells (TCRs). By better understanding how T cells function to eliminate tumors, the team hopes to translate their findings into personalized and shared therapies.

“Immunotherapy has been helpful against certain cancers like melanoma, but we have not had the same success across all cancer types, and it’s essential to understand why,” said Wu. “We’re looking at several central questions: What are the antigen targets for TCRs? How do T cell clones interact with the tumor microenvironment? And what is the optimal state of T cells for lasting tumor suppression?”

The team’s work will build on their previous innovations, which make it possible to rapidly identify a patient’s TCRs and then reprogram those cells so that they are toxic to cancer cells without damaging healthy ones.

“The Mark Foundation is committed to supporting the most exciting projects in cancer research throughout their life cycle,” said Mark Foundation CEO Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD. “I cannot wait to see what highly personalized, lifesaving treatments will come from the work Dr. Wu and her team are doing.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) has granted Dana-Farber $2.78 million to build crucial infrastructure for developing immunotherapies—novel treatments that leverage the immune system to fight cancer.

Co-principal investigators Eric Smith, MD, PhD, director of Translational Research for Immune Effector Cell Therapies; William Hahn, MD, PhD, the William Rosenberg Professor of Medicine; and Xin Zhou, PhD, received the grant through the MLSC’s Research Infrastructure Program. The funds will be used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment that will significantly expand Dana-Farber’s capacity to bring more of these lifesaving therapies to patients as quickly as possible.

Over the past few decades, the FDA has approved more than 100 immunotherapies, which have improved survival for many patients and have even induced complete remissions in certain advanced, previously intractable forms of cancer. Recent technological advances promise to accelerate unprecedented progress in the development of these transformative therapies. However, because the use of these new technologies requires highly specialized knowledge across several different fields of expertise, scientists have found it difficult to establish the cross-disciplinary collaborations needed to capitalize on these technological breakthroughs.

This challenge is being addressed through a new Immunotherapy Platform for Antibody and CAR Therapeutics Discovery and Translation (IMPACT²) research program, led by Smith and his colleagues, including IMPACT² head of research Anusuya Ramasubramanian, PhD. Housed in a newly constructed space at the Institute, IMPACT² focuses on providing centralized, accessible, cross-disciplinary expertise and infrastructure required to engineer, test, and optimize new cancer-fighting immunotherapies.

“The MLSC grant will significantly expand IMPACT²’s capacity to support multiple projects in parallel from various Massachusetts academic and industry groups,” said Smith. “Ultimately, this will enhance our ability to rapidly and robustly develop new immunotherapies that could revolutionize treatment for patients with many different types of cancer.”

The MLSC is an economic development and investment agency whose multi-pronged mission is to serve as the hub of the Massachusetts life sciences ecosystem; encourage innovation through investments in good science and business; strengthen and protect Massachusetts’ global leadership position in the life sciences; accelerate the commercialization of promising treatments, therapies, and cures that will improve patient care; create jobs; and drive economic and workforce development in science and technology. Its Research Infrastructure Program provides grants for capital projects that enable and support life sciences research and development in the Commonwealth.

 “The MLSC invests in the scientific infrastructure required to bring cutting edge diagnostics and therapies to patients,” said Carla Reimold, PhD, MLSC’s vice president of industry strategy and investments. “By leveraging the expertise of the Dana-Farber team, this grant will enable new discoveries and improve patients’ lives.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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The V Foundation is spurring Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s efforts to eradicate difficult-to-treat cancers through recent grants totaling $1.6 million awarded to two Dana-Farber investigators who aim to develop novel treatments known as epigenetic therapies. Rather than targeting cancer-causing genetic mutations directly, epigenetic therapies target specialized proteins that can turn off cancer-causing genes inside cells.

Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, vice chair of Pediatric Oncology Research and the Ted Williams Chair at Dana-Farber, will leverage her V Foundation Pediatric Cancer All-Star Award for research that aims to unlock the potential of a novel epigenetic therapy for neuroblastoma. This work builds upon Stegmaier’s recent discovery that a common form of high-risk neuroblastoma depends on a group of epigenetic proteins known as the SAGA complex to alter the expression of genes that are critical for neuroblastoma cell survival. Although drugs targeting SAGA are in development, none have been tested in neuroblastoma. The grant will enable Stegmaier to initiate critical preclinical testing of SAGA-targeted drugs for this disease.

Stegmaier also plans to identify effective drug combinations that can be used with SAGA-targeted inhibitors. The goal of this critical preclinical research is to validate the SAGA complex as an effective target, thereby accelerating SAGA inhibitors into clinical trials as a novel therapeutic approach for children with high-risk neuroblastoma.

Sarah Johnstone, MD, PhD, will use her 2023 Women Scientists Innovation Award for Cancer Research, a V Scholar grant, to study two “architectural” proteins, BORIS and CTCF, which normally bind to and induce structural changes in DNA in order to regulate gene expression. BORIS and CTCF are commonly mutated in ovarian cancer, but how these mutations might affect DNA structure and gene expression to promote this cancer is unknown. Johnstone’s novel research will generate cellular models to study how BORIS and CTCF mutations impact DNA structure and subsequent gene expression, and then pinpoint the key therapeutic pathways involved. The goal is to identify urgently needed new therapeutic approaches for ovarian cancer, a cancer with high recurrence rates and standard-of-care treatment regimens that have remained unchanged for over two decades.

V Foundation Vice President of Grants and Research Kara Coleman, PhD, says, “We are proud to fund projects that will change the future of cancer research and improve patient lives. We are confident that Dr. Stegmaier and Dr. Johnstone’s work will help us achieve that goal. Both researchers have brought novel ideas to their respective fields, and we are thrilled that V Foundation grants will be instrumental in driving forward this lifesaving research.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Multiple myeloma treatments have significantly improved over the past two decades, thanks in part to the driving engine of transformational philanthropy. This is particularly true at Dana-Farber, where physician-scientists have developed new tools to address historically intractable cancers like multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the bone marrow. Through revolutionary basic, translational, and clinical research, Dana-Farber researchers have transformed a multiple myeloma diagnosis—now patients often live three to five times longer than they might have expected only two decades ago. Despite this tremendous progress, there is still much work to be done, as multiple myeloma cells grow resistant over time to even the most potent medicines.

New treatments are developed through an arduous process beginning at the laboratory bench and ending years later with drug delivery at a patient’s bedside. What propels therapies through this pipeline is philanthropy. Paula and Rodger Riney of St. Louis, who in 2019, through their Foundation, made the single largest award supporting multiple myeloma research in Dana-Farber history, understand the distinctive power that philanthropy holds. The Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation has been a dedicated supporter of Dana-Farber and with their latest grant of more than $1.5 million has cumulatively contributed more than $60 million to the Institute.

“We are in awe of what Dana-Farber has achieved in multiple myeloma care over the past two decades,” said Rodger Riney. “The future holds so much promise. We are proud to continue supporting research that will bring forth new treatment options for multiple myeloma patients.”

The Riney Foundation’s most recent grant funds a project led by Carl Novina, MD, PhD, investigating a transcription factor called NFκB that binds to DNA to turn on the genes that produce antibodies. Abnormal NFκB regulation is a common attribute of several cancers including multiple myeloma. Novina’s team is identifying natural RNAs that bind to NFκB and is studying their effect on NFκB function. Moreover, these RNAs will be used to build novel RNA-based therapies that mediate NFκB destruction that could be developed into more durable therapies to combat drug resistance.

 “New therapies are essential to continue making progress against cancers,” said Novina. “Committed supporters like The Riney Foundation are key to expanding our research to identify new options that can make a difference in patients’ lives.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Emily Campbell was just 32 when she began seeing doctors in her hometown of Miami for vague symptoms—abdominal discomfort and bloating, low appetite, fatigue—that were dismissed by her local medical team until she insisted on an ultrasound scan. That led to a diagnosis of low-grade serous ovarian cancer and surgery to remove her reproductive organs.

Facing the prospect of post-surgical chemotherapy, Emily was alarmed that her physicians had little familiarity with her cancer. “For the number of times I was in the hospital and the doctor would say, ‘I’ve never seen this before’ or ‘This is rare,’ I was thinking, we have to find a doctor who sees this every day,” said Emily.

Their search led them to Ursula Matulonis, MD, chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and the Brock-Wilson Family Chair at Dana-Farber. After a new pathology workup at the Institute, Emily learned that she instead had borderline ovarian cancer, for which surgery is currently the only treatment option.

“It completely changed the trajectory of my life,” Emily said. “When you are given a diagnosis like low-grade serous carcinoma, your body and your mind kind of go into shock.” Learning that she would not have to go through chemotherapy was a huge relief.

But during the time they were seeking second opinions and researching ovarian cancer, Emily and her husband, Chris, realized that there’s a real dearth of information about borderline and low-grade forms of the disease, which are typically found in younger women.

“It’s really not studied enough and there are just not enough resources,” said Emily. “I wanted to know if it was going to come back in five years, or never. I wanted to know how this cancer grows or changes.”

That’s a big reason why the couple made a $1.5 million gift in 2023 to establish the Campbell Family Fund for Borderline and Low-Grade Ovarian Cancer Research at Dana-Farber. This will fund Matulonis’ work to understand the spectrum of the diseases, identify at-risk patients earlier, expand treatment options, and improve the quality of life for patients.

Chris explained that they chose Dana-Farber particularly because Matulonis had a project ready to go. “The team had clear goals for this research, and they were clear about what they needed in order to make the project come to life,” he said. “We met with the team last summer, and to see the amount of work they’d already done and see their excitement was really energizing. The biggest thing for us was knowing that it was going to move the needle.”

“We are so grateful for this vital support from Emily and Chris,” said Matulonis. “Their gift is incredibly impactful, given that only a fraction of ovarian cancer research funding is directed to the borderline or low-grade serous subtypes.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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In 2019, Dana-Farber established the Edward P. Evans Center for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) with generous funding from the Edward P. Evans Foundation. The foundation recently awarded new grants totaling $1.35 million to three Dana-Farber scientists for novel investigations into MDS, a group of blood disorders caused by abnormal bone marrow stem cells.

Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, co-director of the Evans Center, chair of Medical Oncology, and the George P. Canellos, MD, and Jean S. Canellos Professor of Medicine, received a Discovery Research Grant to address critical challenges in MDS research. To develop new therapies for MDS, better preclinical models are needed to guide the design of clinical trials. Ebert will use two different genome editing approaches—CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas12—to build more advanced mouse models of MDS to study the numerous genetic mutations driving the disease.

“We hope that multiplexed editing of genes will provide better models of MDS and that this will ultimately lead to robust preclinical studies to guide effective clinical trials,” says Ebert.

Christopher Reilly, MD, and Mounica Vallurupalli, MD, each received Evans MDS Young Investigator Awards, which are geared toward early career scientists looking to establish their own labs as MDS investigators.

Reilly, director of the Multidisciplinary Telomere Biology Disorder Program, is examining the process by which individuals with short telomeres—the protective ends of chromosomes that prevent DNA damage—develop MDS. His project will determine which types of mutations occur in people with short telomeres and how these mutations lead to MDS.

With her grant, Vallurupalli is studying mutations in the splicing factor gene SF3B1, which impair red blood cell production, a hallmark of MDS. She will develop models that systematically test which genetic factors help to overcome impaired red blood cell production in SF3B1-mutated bone marrow stem cells.

“The Edward P. Evans Foundation considers our support of the highly innovative work in Benjamin Ebert’s laboratory, and our support of early investigators, such as Christopher Reilly and Mounica Vallurupalli, as one of the best investments we can make to discover new knowledge that will enable the development of effective MDS treatments,” says Michael Lewis, president of the Edward P. Evans Foundation. “Dana-Farber has been, and continues to be, one of our most valuable partners to achieve this goal, and we are excited to see what these efforts might yield.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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For many, Thanksgiving weekend marks the start of the holiday season, with family gatherings and a spirit of gratitude in the air. Since 2012, GivingTuesday celebrates this special time of year by encouraging charitable giving on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund participated again in 2023, with over 4,800 supporters across the country donating more than $1.7 million to The Dana-Farber Campaign to fund lifesaving research and care and further the Institute’s mission to defy cancer.

To inspire further giving, Arbella Insurance Group matched the first $50,000 in donations contributed that day.

GivingTuesday provides flexible funding that Dana-Farber deploys across the Institute to the most promising projects and most critical needs. Contributions help improve outcomes for patients like Tilly, who was featured during the campaign. Tilly was just 2 years old when she was diagnosed with an inoperable low-grade glioma in her spinal cord. Her parents were devastated, but upon bringing her to Dana-Farber, the family found little pieces of joy and gratitude during her time at the Jimmy Fund Clinic.

Throughout her treatment, Tilly enjoyed the opportunities to play and just “be a kid” at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, dressing in costumes, a different character for each of her weekly visits. Some days she would be Brucey the Monkey or Doctor Tilly. Some visits she would come dressed as a cow, or a unicorn, or even Elton John, and always with a box of doughnuts to share with the nurses and staff at the Jimmy Fund Clinic.

Tilly just turned 5 years old and is doing great. Her chemotherapy treatments slowed the tumor’s growth, and while she will continue to be monitored every 12 weeks for the foreseeable future, as of now her prognosis is good.

“Dana-Farber has become not just a place where Tilly gets treatment, llama cookies, and stickers, but also the place where she becomes the living proof,” said her father, Josh Danoff. “We have experienced the loss of so much, but we still have our daughter, she is still with us. And no matter how hard the day is, no matter what her physical challenges in her life may be, we will have another day, another opportunity for things to get better.”

All funds raised on this special day of giving help ensure that adults and children with cancer can go on to live, rich, fulfilling lives during and after treatment—even as a doctor, a monkey, or a glam rocker, like Tilly.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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For the 29th year, Expect Miracles Foundation reaffirmed their support of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with a gift of $1 million. This latest gift brought the foundation’s cumulative total to more than $14 million toward our shared mission of defying cancer.

The Expect Miracles Discovery Fund—one of three philanthropic branches of the foundation—specifically supports the Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science at Dana-Farber, which collaborates with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to bring basic scientific breakthroughs to market in the form of new cancer drugs and therapies, a key strategic priority of The Dana-Farber Campaign. The Belfer Center is unique in that it joins scientific discovery with academic and industry research to solve the most common and challenging drug development problems and accelerate the availability of cutting-edge cancer treatments.

“Because of the philanthropic support from Expect Miracles Foundation, the Belfer Center is able to take its work to the next level,” says Pasi Jänne, MD, PhD, director of the Belfer Center and the David M. Livingston, MD, Chair at Dana-Farber. “Cancer is an incredibly complex set of diseases, but with continued funding, we are able to better understand and unravel these complexities and bring hope to patients around the world with challenging cancers and few effective treatment options.” Jänne is also the senior vice president for Translational Medicine and director of the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers at Dana-Farber.

Each year, Expect Miracles Foundation brings together professionals in the financial services industry to participate in a variety of exciting events that not only raise critical funds for lifesaving cancer research but also advance the financial and emotional health of those impacted by cancer. Two large signature golf tournaments are highlights each year: the East Coast Classic, which teed off for the 29th year in June at Pinehills Golf Course in Plymouth, Mass.; and the Atlantic Coast Classic, which marked its sixth year at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, N.J.

“We at Expect Miracles Foundation are beyond proud to support the lifesaving work happening at Dana-Farber,” says Frank Strauss, founder and chairman of Expect Miracles Foundation. “Our donors should be proud, too, knowing they are part of a community that is improving the lives of cancer patients everywhere and making miracles happen every day.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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When asked what motivates her to support cancer research, Susan Hertog starts at the beginning, when her best friend was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 49.

It was 1994, and research was still years away from the robust understanding we have today of the genetic drivers of cancer. Immunotherapy treatments were not yet available. Genetic testing was in its infancy. Years later, in the mid-2000s, Susan herself was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and lived firsthand the marked improvements in treatments. She would call herself lucky, but asserts that it’s more than luck—it’s the brilliance of researchers and clinicians constantly working to improve cancer care.

These experiences inspired Susan and her husband, Roger, to begin supporting cancer research, through philanthropic gifts to research initiatives around the country, and through Susan’s position on the board of directors of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The Hertogs know the critical role that prevention plays in cancer care, and the critical role that Dana-Farber is playing in this space—prevention is a key strategic priority for the Institute and The Dana-Farber Campaign. In support of these efforts, the Hertogs gave $1 million to fund the prevention-focused INteRCEPT trial led by Glenn Hanna, MD. This is one of the first-ever studies evaluating the efficacy of immunotherapy in cancer prevention for patients with high-risk oral precancerous disease.

In 2021, Hanna and his colleagues identified a population of oral precancerous patients who may benefit from immunotherapy. Now, a phase 2 clinical trial is underway to test a new injectable immunotherapy agent as a method of preventing progression to oral cancer.

“We previously have shown that patients with a high-risk precursor condition that progresses to oral cancer in up to 80% of patients, have precancerous tissues rich with immunologic cells and inflammatory T cells,” said Hanna, who serves as director of the Center for Cancer Therapeutic Innovation and the Center for Salivary and Rare Head and Neck Cancers at Dana-Farber. “Thanks in part to Susan and Roger’s generous funding, we are now testing targeting these cells with new immunotherapy drugs.”

While the INteRCEPT trial is primarily focused on oral cancer, the results have the potential to be adapted to other precancerous conditions, such as those that lead to gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and skin cancers.

“We were intrigued because the object of Dr. Hanna’s study is prevention and early intervention, which is critical to the study of any form of cancer,” said Susan. “Metastasis, at this moment in time, is incurable. Dana-Farber’s emphasis on catching cancer early is important, and impressive.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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On long journeys, landmarks and milestones show us where we are and how far we’ve come. Since 1980, the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), the beloved bike-a-thon and the nation’s most successful athletic fundraiser, has seen plenty of both. Iconic spots along the ride evoke progress and pride, like Cherry Street, where the community motivates riders with high energy; the touching tributes to PMC Pedal Partners displayed on the stretch of road leading to the Lakeville water stop; and the dunes on the Cape, which spark a feeling of accomplishment when they finally come into view. At the same time, the PMC’s momentous fundraising milestones, surpassed year after year, enable equally ambitious advances in cancer research and care at Dana-Farber.

On August 5–6, the PMC hit a higher gear yet again during its 44th ride, as 6,500 riders from 44 states, territories, and districts and 6 countries pedaled 16 routes ranging from 25 to 211 miles across Massachusetts, or reimagined their rides in locations of their choosing. They were aided by more than 3,000 volunteers and 200 corporate sponsors, whose investment ensured that 100% of every rider-raised dollar goes directly to Dana-Farber. Nearly 1,000 cancer patients and survivors rode and volunteered as Living Proof of the PMC’s impact. Including funds raised in the PMC Winter Cycle, PMC Unpaved, and PMC Kids Rides, the committed PMC community generated a record-breaking 2023 gift of $72 million, bringing the organization’s cumulative total to an astonishing $972 million raised since 1980—putting the unprecedented $1 billion fundraising milestone squarely in sight for 2024.

As Dana-Farber’s largest single contributor, accounting for more than 62% of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue, the PMC remains the powerhouse for progress at the Institute, as it has for more than four decades, and is accelerating the success of The Dana-Farber Campaign. Philanthropy from the PMC helped Dana-Farber’s basic scientists discover the role of a protein called PD-L1 in blocking an immune attack on tumor cells, launching a new class of drugs called “immune checkpoint inhibitors” that revolutionized cancer immunotherapy.

PMC support also bolsters Dana-Farber’s clinical trials program, one of the largest in the country with more than 1,100 trials offered. Fueled in part by PMC funding, Institute investigators played a substantial role in the development of over half of all cancer drugs approved by the FDA in the last five years, including accelerated approval for a novel treatment for metastatic HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer in 2023. Speeding these new medicines from the lab to clinics everywhere improves the lives of patients worldwide.

Resources from the PMC have also helped Dana-Farber’s Cancer Care Equity Program (CCEP) double in size over the past year, expanding research-based interventions that alleviate health disparities, increase access, and enhance outcomes in medically underserved populations. This includes community-focused patient navigation, through which trained staff provide need-based assistance with transportation, language services, medical expenses, health insurance, nutrition, and other potential barriers to optimal care.

Such progress propelled by the PMC since its inception has helped many more people live better and longer with cancer, with the number of survivors in the United States growing from less than 5 million in 1980 to more than 18 million and counting today. This tremendous improvement exemplifies the PMC’s multifaceted impact on Dana-Farber’s important work and everyone who benefits. Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, Dana-Farber president and CEO, the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine, and 8-year PMC rider, said: “All of us at the Institute are truly inspired by and grateful for the PMC’s extraordinary support, which empowers every life-changing advance we achieve.”

The PMC is determined to do even more to help Dana-Farber go the distance against cancer. “There’s a lot riding on the everyday heroes in the PMC community,” said Billy Starr, founder and executive director of the PMC and a Dana-Farber Trustee. “And with their continued unwavering commitment to our mission we will keep bringing cures closer by the mile.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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For 50 years, Dana-Farber’s Fellowship Program in Hematology/Oncology has attracted the brightest early career physicians, researchers, and nurse-scientists to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in their pursuit of specialized training opportunities in cancer medicine. The incredible success and longevity of this fellowship program is a result of philanthropic support, which continues with a recent gift from Dana-Farber Trustee David Dechman and his husband, Michel Mercure. Their gift of $5 million includes the establishment of the Dechman-Mercure Endowed Fellowship.

The gift from Dechman and Mercure will help prepare academically oriented physicians to become leaders in clinical and laboratory investigation, clinical care, and education, and advance the search for cures for all cancers. The Dechman-Mercure Endowed Fellowship will allow early career physician-scientists the opportunity to pursue an idea and gather the data they need to advance their research beyond the early stages, which is often more risky and harder to fund because there is no evidence yet that the new idea will be productive.

“There has been such enormous progress in research and treatment since I’ve been involved with the Institute,” said Dechman, who has been a Trustee for nearly 30 years. “We wanted to celebrate that progress with this gift, but also raise the bar for the future. Curing cancer is a big, complicated assignment and everyone must do their part to contribute. We’re fortunate that we can support the work in this way.”

Dechman and Mercure decided the most effective way to raise the bar for the future was to combine a lifetime commitment with a bequest in their estate plans to maximize their support to The Dana-Farber Campaign, the multi-year fundraising effort to prevent, treat, and defy cancer by accelerating revolutionary science, extraordinary care, exceptional expertise, and essential opportunities. Their gift supports the campaign priority of exceptional expertise, which aims to provide all the resources and tools Dana-Farber’s people need to revolutionize cancer research and care now and in the future.

“Support from our Board of Trustees is always vital to our work, but it has been especially integral to the success of The Dana-Farber Campaign,” said Dana-Farber President and CEO Laurie H. Glimcher, MD. “David is a wonderful board member and his service as a member of the Campaign Cabinet has been tremendous. This gift will have great impact on our junior faculty, innovative research, and the future of cancer research and care.”

Through his professional lens as an investment and financial advisor, Dechman recognizes the long-term benefit of making a gift to Dana-Farber. He said, “In the world of investing, you have many choices of where to put your funds. You try to make the choice that will be most successful and have the highest possibility of a good outcome. The depth, breadth, and quality of the program at Dana- Farber is world-class and the team has the momentum and knowledge to propel this work forward. It is a wise place to invest.”

With the proven success of the Fellowship Program in Hematology/ Oncology for half a century, it is clear that Dechman and Mercure’s investment in this program at Dana-Farber will only further its influence and impact.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Thanks to thousands of generous supporters from across the country, the 21st annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon presented by Arbella Insurance raised more than $4 million for adult and pediatric cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The inspirational two-day event, featuring stories of hope from Dana-Farber patients, doctors, community leaders, and special guests, has raised more than $70 million to strike out cancer since its inception in 2002.

The fundraiser was broadcast live from Fenway Park on August 29 and 30, from 6 a.m. through Boston Red Sox postgame coverage each night. Dana-Farber pediatric and adult patients shared their stories on-air and took part in special on-field ceremonies, including singing the national anthem, throwing out the first pitch, and serving as honorary team members for the starting nine lineup.

Kicking off the fundraising each morning was a special matching challenge from Rob and Karen Hale, who is an Institute Trustee. They pledged to match the first $750,000 raised between 6 and 10 a.m. over the two days. BJ’s Charitable Foundation and Ernie Boch Jr. made additional leadership gifts of $250,000 and $100,000, respectively. The broadcast also included special appearances from Jimmy Fund Captain and Red Sox player Garrett Whitlock, former Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer David Ortiz, Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, several members of the Boston Bruins, and others.

“The two days of the Radio-Telethon were extremely inspiring and emotional, and are a reminder for all of us about the great work being done by the doctors, nurses, and staff at Dana-Farber,” said John Donohue, chairman, president, and CEO of the Arbella Insurance Group and chairman of the Arbella Insurance Foundation.

“The generosity of Radio-Telethon donors shows the compassion our listeners possess to help those in need,” said Mike Thomas, senior vice president and market manager, Audacy Boston, parent company of WEEI. “It’s an honor to be a part of this event every year.”

“We are proud to tell the stories of hope and inspiration on NESN and thankful to our viewers, sponsors, and partners for their generosity,” said Sean McGrail, president and CEO of NESN.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) has awarded grants totaling more than $2.3 million to Dana-Farber researchers exploring new treatment approaches and ways to reduce disparities in prostate cancer.

Christina Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH, received two PCF awards for her research on exercise to mitigate the negative effects of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a standard treatment for intermediate or advanced prostate cancer. With 2022 Stupski Foundation-PCF Challenge Award funding, she will conduct a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to determine if multicomponent exercise can improve or prevent frailty, sarcopenia, and disease progression in metastatic prostate cancer patients receiving ADT.

Dieli-Conwright’s 2021 PCF-Pfizer Health Equity Challenge Award will support a pivotal multicenter clinical trial to assess whether a culturally tailored, home-based exercise program can counteract the negative cardiovascular effects of ADT and improve outcomes in Black patients, who are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease-related death than non-Hispanic white patients receiving ADT.

Under Dieli-Conwright’s mentorship, Dong-Woo Kang, PhD, will use the 2022 Wild Dunes MGA-PCF Young Investigator Award to conduct the first-ever clinical trial to research the tumor suppressive potential of exercise in Black patients with early stage prostate cancer who are on active surveillance, the preferred management strategy for early, low-risk disease. Black men have a higher risk of developing aggressive disease than white men but have been largely underrepresented in clinical trials. This groundbreaking trial seeks to determine whether aerobic and resistance training can reduce the risk of disease progression in these patients and could lead to a new exercise-based intervention to improve outcomes and help reduce disparities.

Himisha Beltran, MD, was awarded the 2022 Michael & Lori Milken Family Foundation-PCF Challenge Award to build upon her discovery of DLL3, a protein selectively expressed in neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) and in small cell lung cancer. She will study which patients might benefit from a novel DLL3-targeted immunotherapy that has shown promising results in a phase 1 trial and could become the first approved therapy for this rare, lethal form of prostate cancer. Also principal investigator of a team-based PCFTACTICAL Award, Beltran is working to identify novel theranostic agents that work in combination to diagnose and treat NEPC.

Timothy Rebbeck, PhD, principal investigator of the team-based 2022 Movember-PCF VAlor Challenge Award, will explore genetic and non-genetic factors contributing to racial disparities in prostate cancer incidence, aggressiveness, and outcomes among veterans.

“The Prostate Cancer Foundation congratulates the investigators and looks forward with great anticipation to the results of their novel research,” said Howard R. Soule, PhD, PCF executive vice president and chief science officer.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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An extraordinary gift of $10 million from Robert and Renée Belfer and family will support innovative immuno-oncology research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute designed to predict responses to cancer immunotherapy and improve patient outcomes. The gift brings the Belfer Family’s longtime giving to Dana-Farber to more than $35 million, and provides powerful momentum to a key strategic priority of The Dana-Farber Campaign.

Specifically, the gift will support combining patient-derived organotypic spheroids (PDOTs)—also known as “tumor-on-a-chip”—developed at the Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science, with new Dana-Farber-developed mass spectrometry technology. PDOTs are used to predict how patients respond to existing immunotherapy cancer treatments.

“It is our hope that this gift will result in more research breakthroughs, a larger number of clinical trials, and improved patient care for the benefit of people here and around the world so they can live longer, healthier lives,” said Laurence Belfer, Robert and Renée’s son, who oversees much of the family’s philanthropic activity.

The Belfer Center team led by Pasi Jänne, MD, PhD; David Barbie, MD, and Cloud Paweletz, PhD, will launch an immuno-oncology project using data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS). This technology, pioneered by Dana-Farber’s Ellis Reinherz, MD, and his team, pulls small proteins known as neoantigen peptides directly off tumors and determines their identity. Once identified, these small proteins, which are found only on tumor cells, can be used to generate either personalized T cells or vaccines that kill cancer cells. With this gift, the Belfer Center will industrialize this approach and systematically roll out the capability for Dana-Farber investigators and industry partners.

“Our approach will have an immediate impact on patients by rapidly accelerating the detection of robust neoantigens for immune cell targeting,” said Barbie, associate director of the Belfer Center.

Neoantigen peptides form within tumors, but travel to the surface of tumor cells, where they provide a beacon for T cells to eliminate them. By identifying these neoantigen peptides, researchers can generate precise T cells in the lab as a therapy for these tumors. The Belfer Center team will then investigate cancer cell destruction using the PDOTs platform, analyze cells’ underlying biology, and test their findings in research models.

“This gift will enable our scientists to look to the future of immuno-oncology and, with key industry partners, develop the next-generation of personalized immunotherapies for a range of cancers,” said Jänne, director of the Belfer Center, the Carole M. and Philip L. Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, and the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers, as well as the David M. Livingston, MD, Chair at Dana-Farber.

Robert and Renée Belfer have a long history of giving to Dana-Farber. A $10 million gift in 2006 established the Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science, which translates innovative oncology research into cancer treatments through strategic collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. They also support Dana-Farber’s Palm Beach activities, co-chairing the 2015 Breakfast with the Doctors event. Robert Belfer served as an Institute Trustee from 2011 to 2020.

“The Belfer Family’s commitment to Dana-Farber over the years has been remarkable and continues with this magnificent gift,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, Dana-Farber president and CEO; the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine; and a world-renowned immuno-oncologist. “The resulting data from this research will lead to more clinical trials to treat more patients, expanding the breakthrough of immunotherapy to cancer patients everywhere.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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More than one in every 300 people in the United States have Lynch syndrome (LS)—a genetic condition that can lead to gastrointestinal, gynecologic, and other cancers. Yet most of those people are unaware of their condition and discover it only after they are diagnosed with cancer.

Linda and Jay Hooley of Hingham, Mass., want to change that. They made a $1 million gift to Dana-Farber’s Lynch Syndrome Center to fund research, expand access to online screening tools, and broaden awareness of the condition. It is the largest gift received by the center, which is the first of its kind in the world, and will advance the Institute’s leadership in cancer early detection and interception—a key priority for The Dana-Farber Campaign.

The need is critical, because people with an LS mutation have a higher-than-normal risk of developing cancer. Their lifetime risk for colorectal cancer is 22% to 74%, compared to 4% to 5% in the general population. Women with LS have a 15% to 71% risk of developing uterine cancer, compared to 3% for other women.

The Hooleys’ gift will support a range of research efforts, including the Lynch Syndrome Patient Registry and Biobank focused on understanding the processes that occur prior to the development of cancer. The LS registry is an ambitious effort to collect clinical data, diet, and lifestyle information and store biological samples from the full spectrum of LS patients—from those who do not have cancer to those who are survivors.

“It seems like there’s a disproportionate lack of information on something that’s impacted such a high number of people globally,” Jay said. “Lynch syndrome is way down the list in terms of notoriety, visibility, acknowledgment.”

“We hope our gift helps to raise awareness,” said Linda, who was referred to Dana-Farber’s center after a family member with cancer was found to have the condition. She and Jay dream of a day when screening for Lynch syndrome is widespread, so that people whose family histories put them at risk can be tested for mutations in the five genes associated with the condition. If they test positive, they can then be monitored carefully, make diet and lifestyle changes, and receive personalized care to reduce the likelihood that they will develop cancer.

“This gift is incredibly meaningful on a number of levels,” said Sapna Syngal, MD, MPH, who founded the Lynch Syndrome Center in 2019 and is also director of research in the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention. “It will help us boost awareness among doctors, patients, and the general community as well as advance our research, and enhance our ability to develop new screening, prevention, and treatment methods.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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The goal of Break Through Cancer (BTC) is to stimulate “radical collaboration” among scientists to defeat the world’s deadliest cancers. To that end, BTC has awarded $22.9 million in grants to Dana-Farber researchers working across multiple institutions to unlock the secrets of four difficult-to-treat cancers and intercept or develop cutting-edge treatments for them.

Founded in 2021 to accelerate progress and reduce barriers to collaboration, BTC funds multi-institutional “TeamLabs” at five top U.S. cancer centers where researchers share discoveries and data in real time.

These grants will fund Dana-Farber researchers working on intractable cancers such as pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, glioblastoma (a form of brain cancer), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and researchers working in the BTC Data Science Hub. The Data Science Hub creates tools for data gathering and analysis to maximize the discovery potential of data generated by TeamLabs projects across all five institutions.

“We are enormously grateful for this extraordinary support from Break Through Cancer,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, Dana-Farber president and CEO and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine. “BTC brings the best minds in oncology together to seamlessly drive discoveries, advance promising new therapies, and ultimately deliver improved outcomes for patients.”

The teams focused on pancreatic cancer are pursuing two paths of investigation: finding a way to thwart mutations in the KRAS gene that cause tumors to grow wildly and discovering how a tumor’s microenvironment helps malignant cells survive treatment. Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

Another team is working to understand, assess, and intercept ovarian cancer. Using three-dimensional organoid models derived from actual tumors, the investigators are testing novel immune and targeted therapies, some of which treat the DNA repair deficiency associated with an inherited BRCA mutation in those tumors, working to understand why some ovarian cancer cells survive chemotherapy and cause the disease to return and spread.

Glioblastoma is a fast-growing central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord. Institute neuro-oncologists are part of a team exploring the safety and feasibility of a new paradigm of clinical trials. These involve carefully performed sequential tumor biopsies to understand in detail how new therapies affect the tumors.

Additional Dana-Farber researchers are working on two projects aimed at defeating AML. One is based on identifying people at the greatest risk of developing the disease and creating strategies for early detection and prevention by pinpointing and attacking vulnerabilities in clonal hematopoiesis, a precursor to the disease. The other explores the biological underpinnings of the residual cells that survive initial treatment to prevent them from seeding new treatment-resistant disease.

“The incredibly talented people at Dana-Farber are part of an expansive community of leading cancer researchers and physicians who are working as one to accelerate the pace of discovery,” said Tyler Jacks, president of BTC. “I cannot wait to see what they accomplish.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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On August 20, more than 325 participants laced up on behalf of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to compete in the ASICS Falmouth Road Race, stretching seven miles along the scenic Cape Cod coastline. The seaside race, established in 1973, has become one of the premier running events of the summer in New England, attracting runners from all over the globe. Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund serve as the official Legacy Partner of the Falmouth Road Race charity program, Numbers for Nonprofits. This year, runners from Dana-Farber’s Falmouth Road Race team raised more than $1 million, propelling the team’s cumulative fundraising total since 2003 to an incredible $10 million. Donations raised through the longstanding partnership help advance Dana-Farber’s mission to reach the ultimate finish line: a world without cancer.

This year’s race was particularly significant for Meryl Summers, who ran Falmouth for the first time in honor of her daughter Adelia, a pediatric patient in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. Inspired by the 7-year-old’s strength, determination, and resilience, Meryl runs in hopes that the funds raised will bring physician-scientists closer to finding a cure.

“Participating in the Falmouth Road Race is much more than running a race,” says Meryl. “It’s about elevating awareness for pediatric brain cancer, showing unity and support for Adelia, and raising crucial funds for clinical trials. There is a large gap between a breakthrough in a lab and getting the treatments into the bodies of patients. Our contribution will hopefully reduce this gap and make trials available for everyone.”

“Dana-Farber has given us a team of amazing doctors and so much hope for Adelia’s future,” Meryl continues. “We have never felt luckier to live close to Boston and the best treatments in the country.”

Mary Waltuck—who recently celebrated her 75th birthday—also ran Falmouth with the Dana-Farber team for the first time this year. Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 32 and runs in honor of her own cancer journey, and for her stepdaughter, Sandy, who moved to New England from Texas to be closer to Dana-Farber, where Sandy is currently in treatment for her own breast cancer diagnosis.

“I am the beneficiary of all the financial support that’s been given, all the research that has been done, and all those who work tirelessly every day to find a cure for this beast,” says Mary. “As a Dana-Farber runner, I hope in some small way to help provide support and resources to others battling cancer.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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The International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation (IWMF) recently committed $2.5 million to support a new multi-institutional network for clinical and research programs dedicated to Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM). Led by Dana-Farber, this groundbreaking initiative brings together major cancer centers and affiliates across the country to share knowledge and develop clinical trial protocols with the goal of providing patients with more treatment options.

WM is a rare, slow-growing form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that typically forms in the bone marrow. While it can be treated, the disease remains incurable and treatment-resistant—and given its rarity, testing new therapies can be difficult due to the relatively small patient population. Consequently, many treatments for patients with WM result from the findings of relatively small or single-institution studies, which is not ideal. That is why researchers have come together to establish a think tank to address this problem.

“Creating a U.S.-based network of WM clinicians and researchers will facilitate a more rapid translation of trial and study results into practice, as well as bring clinical trials closer to patients,” said Dana-Farber’s Jorge Castillo, MD, who will serve as faculty director of the network’s steering committee. “We are thrilled that IWMF is partnering with us to ensure we meet our ambitious goals. We’re hopeful this network will help optimize clinical trial design and foster academic discussion for the benefit of all patients facing this chronic disease.”

Castillo works alongside Steven Treon, MD, PhD, in the Bing Center for Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia at Dana-Farber. Under their leadership, the Bing Center has made seminal discoveries in WM, including establishing the genetic basis of the disease and the incidence of familial WM. Treon and his colleagues were also the first scientists to report that a mutation in the protein MYD88 relies on Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) to function, which led researchers to test a drug that targets BTK. This research eventually led to FDA approval of ibrutinib as the first drug for WM in 2015 and paved the way for FDA approval of zanubrutinib in 2021.

“Since its inception, the IWMF has sought to raise awareness about WM and find better treatments for the disease,” said IWMF Board Chair Pete DeNardis. “The establishment of this network will significantly elevate the accomplishment of those objectives—and enable clinicians and researchers throughout the U.S. to develop and utilize more impactful treatments and trials specifically for their WM patients. We are excited to be an integral part of this initiative and look forward to stronger collaborations among the medical community, and, in turn, significantly improved treatments for the disease. Today, the future is definitely brighter for the WM patient and caregiver community in the U.S., and around the world.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Kathy and Joe Arabia’s daughter, Anna Yan Ji, was diagnosed with gliomatosis cerebri (GC) in 2009. When they learned there was no research being done and no effective treatments for this rare brain cancer, they set out to change this reality for other families. “I had worked in hospitals for over 25 years,” Kathy Arabia said, “and I couldn’t believe that there was no research being done.”

Just 13 years old at the time of diagnosis, Anna lived courageously with GC for three years. She was a bright, kind, and generous teen who raised money to donate bald Bratz dolls to other girls who lost their hair during cancer treatments.

Anna’s parents established the AYJ Fund in her memory, continuing her wish to bring smiles to other children with cancer. The AYJ Fund Smiles Program has provided Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic with holiday gift packs, craft kits, a trip to see “Wicked” on stage, group tickets to a Bruins game, and three gaming kiosks to brighten clinic visits. They also launched the Connections Program, which provides laptops and iPads to help teens undergoing cancer treatment stay connected to school, friends, and family. “As a teen, missing school and missing her friends were a huge void for Anna,” Kathy said.

In addition, The AYJ Fund serves as a major engine for research and collaboration around the world. The fund has partnered with Dana-Farber physicians who treated Anna, and with family foundations in North America, South America, and Europe, to plan and sponsor International Gliomatosis Cerebri Conferences in Paris, Barcelona, New York City, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. These conferences are a hub for leading international specialists, including Dana-Farber’s Mariella Filbin MD, PhD, to focus on this rare disease. “We are making great strides in developing research and we are going to continue,” said Joe Arabia.

Over the past 10 years since Anna passed, the AYJ Fund has contributed over $150,000 to gliomatosis cerebri research at Dana-Farber. This year, the AYJ Fund made a pledge of $1,000,000 to support the work of Filbin and her team, who will use the grant to collect GC tissue samples and analyze them in unprecedented detail. In addition, Susan Chi, MD, and the neuro-oncology team will offer current patients with gliomatosis cerebri advanced tumor sequencing, helping clinicians match patients to the best clinical trials for them.

“Bringing new treatments to patients with gliomatosis cerebri is a matter of utmost urgency,” said Filbin. “The AYJ Fund’s support has been critical to making that possible.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Today, despite making up approximately half the U.S. population, women still account for less than one-third of the STEM workforce. In a moment where there is so much at stake in cancer research, the Helen Gurley Brown Presidential Initiative at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is playing a critical role in dismantling this gender gap and harnessing the power and potential of women in science.

Named in honor of the influential longtime editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, the late Helen Gurley Brown (pictured), the initiative is dedicated to combating gender disparities by empowering and fostering exceptional women researchers and leaders in academic medicine. Since creating the initiative in 2016, the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation has supported four cohorts of Helen Fellows, postdoctoral and early career researchers who receive mentorship from distinguished faculty known as Helen Mentors.

With each year, the research of the Helen Fellows continues to diversify, covering a wide array of disciplines across cancer medicine and science including reproductive health, pediatric oncology, immunology, and survivorship. Over eight years, 26 faculty members have participated as Helen Mentors, including Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine, who refers to the program as a point of pride. Pediatric oncologist Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, the Ted Williams Chair at Dana-Farber who credits mentors for helping her advance in her own career, is currently in her third cycle as a Helen Mentor. “This initiative bolsters the confidence of the fellows, instilling critical faith and security, while creating a scientific family of support among peers,” Stegmaier reflects.

Since 2020, the foundation has also supported Helen Trailblazer Awards at Dana-Farber. These one-year grants fuel innovative research projects and elevate the investigations of mid-career faculty to the next level, a critical juncture where many women lose funding and are forced to leave their fields. The foundation’s most recent grant is enabling the expansion of the program to eight awards over the next two years.

The collaboration between the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation and Dana-Farber embodies a collective commitment to driving progress in cancer research through investigations led by women. Foundation President Eve Burton believes Brown would be immensely proud of the initiative. “She was a trailblazer and champion for women’s empowerment and refused to let barriers stop women’s contributions from changing the world,” says Burton. “Together, we are working towards a world where women’s achievements know no bounds—not only today, but for generations to come.”

View video of the Helen Gurley Brown Presidential Summit on Women and Science from June 20, 2023.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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Since its founding by the late Evelyn Lauder alongside her dear friend Larry Norton, MD, in 1993, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) has championed research as the key to one day curing breast cancer. For decades, BCRF has supported the world’s most promising research with an eye toward advancing vital discoveries and innovations that would bring hope to those receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.

“Research has the power to bring an end to breast cancer—an end that is urgently needed around the world. Providing exceptional people with funding to pursue their most imaginative ideas, with the greatest potential impact, is at the heart of BCRF’s model,” said Dorraya El-Ashry, PhD, BCRF chief scientific officer. “We are proud to support the remarkable minds among Dana-Farber’s faculty who are working tirelessly on our shared mission of eradicating breast cancer.”

BCRF’s longstanding support of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute continued with grants totaling nearly $4 million in the last year to 17 of Dana-Farber’s talented investigators. Among these, a grant to Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, co-director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program and director of the Breast Immuno-Oncology Program, will support Neo-TRIBUTE (Translational Resource for Immuno-Biology to Understand Therapeutic Efficacy), a study seeking to better understand why patients who receive immunotherapy can experience vastly different responses and toxicities from this treatment. Immunotherapy, or treatment that spurs the body’s own immune system to mount a strong response against cancer cells, is now approved in combination with chemotherapy for patients with stage II or III triple-negative breast cancer prior to surgery. However, almost half of patients experience toxic side effects with this treatment—including symptoms that can be severe enough to result in discontinuation of treatment.

Through this investigation, Mittendorf will analyze the immune components of the tumor microenvironment and the immune cells circulating in the bloodstream to develop a clearer picture of factors that lead some patients to experience disease response and prolonged survival with immunotherapy while others experience toxicities. Mittendorf believes that gaining this understanding will be instrumental toward optimally matching patients to immunotherapy and, ultimately, enhancing all patients’ responses to this type of treatment.

In addition to Mittendorf, BCRF’s recent grants also support: Myles Brown, MD; Lewis Cantley, PhD; Alan D’Andrea, MD; Temidayo Fadelu, MD, MPH; Judy Garber, MD, MPH; Suzanne George, MD; William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD; Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos, MD, PhD; Jose Pablo Leone, MD; Nancy Lin, MD; Ursula Matulonis, MD; Ann Partridge, MD, MPH; Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD; Meredith Regan, ScD; Adrienne Waks, MD; and Jean Zhao, PhD.

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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How can science prevent cancer cells from becoming resistant to treatment? Why does cancer risk increase as we grow older? And how can Dana-Farber make it easier for patients from marginalized communities to receive cancer care?

The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently awarded $1.12 million in grants to four Dana-Farber researchers seeking to answer those questions and more.

Pasi Jänne, MD, PhD, is testing methods that aim to boost the initial effectiveness of personalized lung cancer treatments so that fewer cancer cells survive and seed new disease. Jänne is director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology and Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers at Dana-Farber.

“We hope these complementary approaches will help us achieve our overarching goal, which is to extend the benefits of genotype-directed therapies and ultimately improve the outcome for all patients with lung cancer,” said Jänne, who is also the David M. Livingston, MD, Chair at Dana-Farber.

Inherited and lifestyle factors, along with aging, can influence the development of cancerous tumors and whether they grow and metastasize. Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, has established that invasive ductal carcinomas—the most common form of breast cancer—have fewer tumor-attacking T cells than are found in the earlier pre-invasive form of the disease. She will use her ACS Research Professor grant to further analyze human blood and tissue samples to assess how host factors may affect breast tumor initiation and progression.

Evanna Mills, PhD, is exploring why the prognosis for patients with metastatic breast cancer is poor, with a median survival of only two to three years. Mills is exploring the tumor environment to understand the role of a cellular nutrient called succinate and whether it promotes the growth of tumors.

Patients from historically marginalized communities face many barriers to obtaining cancer care, including lack of transportation. Christopher Lathan, MD, MS, MPH, and his Cancer Care Equity Program team will use an ACS grant to reduce this barrier by providing gas cards, bus passes, and ride share services for eligible patients at community health centers and three Dana-Farber clinics. Lathan is chief clinical access and equity officer and the Hadley Family Chair at Dana-Farber.

These represent just a sampling of the 18 currently active ACS grants at the Institute totaling $9.37 million.

“Our research goal is to find answers that help save lives from cancer and that means to fund the most innovative cancer research,” said William Dahut, MD, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society. “This new group of grantees represents the very best to help break new ground in cancer care and treatment.”

For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.

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