Donor Recognition

The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), which began in 1980 with Billy Starr and three dozen riders who wanted to raise money for cancer care and research, this year crossed the $750 million mark in cumulative fundraising for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This notable milestone occurred during the 2020 PMC, a ride that was “reimagined” to account for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. More than 9,600 participated in the summer-long 2020 PMC Reimagined campaign, raising an impressive $50 million by charting their own courses and riding alone or in small groups in cities and towns across New England and beyond.

“Nothing could be more satisfying than to look back over the past 41 years and see the impact that the efforts of our incredibly dedicated riders, volunteers, sponsors, donors, and supporters have had on lifesaving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber,” commented Starr, PMC founder and executive director, and a Dana-Farber Trustee.

At the cornerstone of the PMC community are the more than 940 Living Proof riders and volunteers who have faced their own cancer journeys. Each year, the Living Proof community comes together during PMC Ride Weekend for a moving toast to celebrate life and the progress made in the fight against cancer. This summer, that celebration looked a bit different, taking place via a video call that joined more than 200 PMC Living Proof participants. Nine-year Living Proof rider and Dana-Farber patient Theresa Welsh led the toast alongside Starr, sharing her personal cancer experience and the impact the PMC has made in her fight, noting, “I credit, hands down, all of the efforts everyone on this call and across the Pan-Mass community and our supporters for my being here today because of the advancements in cancer research that have been made possible by the Pan-Mass Challenge.”

“The PMC community’s steadfast commitment to our institution is humbling and inspiring. More than ever, PMC dollars are critical to support the world-class cancer care and additional resources we provide our patients and their families,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, Dana-Farber president and CEO and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine. “We are so very grateful for the continued support from the PMC and the creative ways its riders reimagined their experience this year to raise money for Dana-Farber.”

PMC 2020 Reimagined, which digitally brought to life many of the most beloved activities from a usual PMC Ride Weekend, was conceptualized after it became clear that the event planned for early August would not be able to go on as it had in the past, with fundraisers pedaling across Eastern Massachusetts to Provincetown in one group.

“As much as we would have loved to be out on the roads together that weekend, I’m very proud of how our community reimagined this year’s PMC experience,” added Starr. “Our motto of ‘there’s a lot riding on us’ rings truer than ever this year as the need for cancer research and treatment funding becomes more and more critical in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The PMC donates 100% of every rider-raised dollar to Dana-Farber as its largest single contributor, accounting for 64% of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue. Despite having to reimagine its 2020 ride, the PMC has remained unwavering in its dedication to Dana-Farber. PMC 2020 Reimagined was incredibly successful, generating the highest event weekend fundraising results the PMC has ever experienced – $4 million from July 31 to August 3. Additionally, as part of the PMC’s impressive $50 million gift, the PMC released $4 million in May as seed funding for Dana-Farber’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, providing immediate support for cancer patients and their families.

Less

Developing and delivering the best therapies for patients with cancer is the driving force of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, but the work of Dana-Farber doesn’t stop there. Identifying high-risk patients and using preventative cancer therapies is an essential component of the fight against cancer, something that longtime supporters Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine know all too well. Inspired by the level of excellence they have witnessed throughout the years at Dana-Farber, the couple recently established the Lavine Family Fund for Preventative Cancer Therapies to advance crucial research aimed at detecting and treating cancer before it progresses.

Their visionary $25 million gift—the largest ever made to advance precision prevention and early detection at Dana-Farber—demonstrates the Lavines’ confidence in our ability to bring about a new paradigm that will allow us to stop cancer in its tracks, ultimately changing outcomes for patients everywhere. It enables Dana-Farber President and CEO Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, to allocate funding to projects that show the most promise to propel exciting developments long into the future, and provides powerful momentum toward the Institute’s comprehensive campaign, currently in the quiet phase.

The gift also establishes a permanent legacy by endowing three chairs to form the Lavine Family Chairs for Preventative Cancer Therapies—the first time three chairs have been endowed with a single gift. The three incumbents are Irene Ghobrial, MD, director of the Clinical Investigator Research Program; David Weinstock, MD; and Catherine Wu, MD, chief of the Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies. An endowed chair is one of the most prestigious academic appointments and will enable the incumbents to continue to investigate precursor conditions, immunotherapies, and other potential prevention strategies. This gift will also establish the Lavine Family Fund for Preventative Cancer Therapies that will provide support to enable research faculty across the Institute to develop new methods of early detection and enhance the ability of doctors to identify and test for early stage cancers.

“Early detection and cancer prevention are essential to the fight against cancer. Effective early detection methods and therapies will enable doctors to save more lives,” says Jonathan Lavine, who serves as a Dana-Farber Trustee. “We have entrusted Dr. Glimcher to allocate the fund to support leading investigators who are on a path to dramatically move the needle in their fields—the most promising people, advancing the most promising work, which in turn holds great promise for patients and their families.”

“Thanks to this extraordinary investment from Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine, our physician-scientists are poised to make breakthrough discoveries that will lead to comprehensive prevention and early detection for all patients,” said Glimcher. “Philanthropic leaders like the Lavines are instrumental to bringing us closer to our ultimate goal: reducing the burden of cancer.”

This is not the first time that the Lavines have made a life-changing gift to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Lavines were personally impacted by cancer when Jonathan’s mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma over two decades ago. Jonathan witnessed the work of Dana-Farber firsthand as his mother received successful treatment and was inspired to give back. In 2013, Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine gave $10 million to an initiative to enhance the patient and family experience at Dana-Farber and to name the Lavine Family Dining Pavilion. Adds Jeannie Lavine, “The work at Dana-Farber saves lives and it is our honor to be a small part of making those miracles happen.”

Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine are longtime supporters of health care and other civic and charitable causes in Boston and beyond. Through their foundation, the Crimson Lion Foundation, the Lavines focus their philanthropic efforts to support numerous organizations like the Pan-Mass Challenge, which raises funds for cancer research at Dana-Farber.

Less

The 2020 holiday season, more than ever, was a time of reflection and gratitude as communities came together to support those in need. This spirit of generosity was ever-present on GivingTuesday, an international day of giving observed on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, as our own community of supporters raised nearly $1.6 million, the highest-ever GivingTuesday total for Dana-Farber and Jimmy Fund.

A variety of efforts, including online, text-to-give, social media, and two matching challenges funded by Arbella Insurance Group and VFW Lt. James A. Logan Post No. 6800, helped to motivate gifts of all sizes from more than 3,000 donors across the country. Longtime Jimmy Fund partner WEEI 93.7 FM hosted a one-day radio broadcast on Dec. 1, WEEI’s GivingTuesday to benefit the Jimmy Fund presented by Arbella Insurance. Interviews with Dana-Farber patients and their families, Institute leaders, and representatives of the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, and New England Patriots inspired listeners to give generously. The broadcast was bolstered by $138,500 from the Red Sox Partners Challenge and a nearly $260,000 contribution from Find Mass Money.

Among the Dana-Farber patients supporting the GivingTuesday effort was Caesar, pictured above with his wife, Gil, who came to Dana-Farber for a second opinion after a diagnosis of prostate cancer with a grim prognosis. Caesar took part in a clinical trial here, is now cancer free, and living life to the fullest. “I could never have imagined this,” he says. “Dana-Farber gave my life back to me.”

Less

Over the past year, Dana-Farber has seen an extraordinary outpouring of community support, with many donors contributing money and resources to help us best serve our patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among these were Wycliffe “Wyc” Grousbeck and Emilia Fazzalari, with their recent gift to support Dana-Farber’s Emergency Response Fund as well as COVID-19 testing and antibody testing research.

The couple points to Dana-Farber’s reputation as a leader in cancer research and care as their inspiration to give, especially now during a challenging time for the Institute and many of the patients served by the Institute.

“Our approach to philanthropy is to make commitments to the best people and places we can find and stick with it over the long term,” said Grousbeck, a sentiment he and Fazzalari have taken to heart throughout their personal and professional lives, their gift to Dana-Farber being one of the many ways they are involved in the Boston community. In addition to their personal support, the Boston Celtics, of which Grousbeck is managing partner, governor, and CEO, has also supported the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon along with the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, and New England Patriots in support of the Jimmy Fund.

The Emergency Response Fund was established in March 2020 to ensure that Dana-Farber could successfully navigate the challenges brought on by the pandemic. The Institute introduced enhanced safety procedures including reconfiguration of clinical spaces to better maintain social distancing; a telemedicine program to allow patients to visit with their care team virtually; and a novel decontamination program enabling personal protective equipment (PPE) to be safely used more than once. All of these measures, and many others, generated significant costs that were offset in part by donors like Grousbeck and Fazzalari.

“We wanted to help the Institute get through the financial strains of this pandemic,” said Fazzalari. “We love to support people who are doing world-class work, and Dana-Farber is at the top of the list.”

A portion of the gift also provides crucial resources for COVID-19 testing and antibody testing research led by Eric Fischer, PhD, and William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, and the William Rosenberg Professor of Medicine. Philanthropic dollars were, and remain, crucial to accelerating these efforts, all for the health and safety of our staff and patients. “During this difficult time, the value our healthcare providers and researchers bring to society has never been clearer,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine. “Support from our generous community of donors helps Dana-Farber continue delivering the highest standard of care and global scientific leadership.”

“This is a gift out of respect and love for what Dana-Farber does and for the people it treats,” said Grousbeck. “We know that we are supporting the very best.”

Less

The Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai changed routes and stayed the course in the fight against cancer by introducing its first-ever virtual Walk in 2020. Although unable to hold an in-person event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walk made incredible strides in the fight against cancer by raising more than $6 million, which brought the event’s lifetime fundraising total to more than $150 million.

The Jimmy Fund Walk: Your Way on Oct. 4 invited participants to support Dana-Farber’s cancer research and patient care just as it has throughout its 32-year history. In an effort to keep all participants and the community safe, participants walked in locations of their choosing rather than on the historic Boston Marathon® course. Jimmy Fund supporters from across the country and around the world, walked in their neighborhoods, on local hiking trails, or wherever else they liked.

The flexibility of this year’s event meant many people outside the Boston area were able to join the Walk’s efforts without leaving home. With walkers in all 50 states and 15 countries as far-flung as Afghanistan, Chile, Czech Republic, Sweden, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, the event was truly global. The diversity of their locations highlighted that, regardless of where they live, walkers could take steps to help fight cancer.

Some popular hallmarks of the Walk were made virtual, including the Ribbon Wall, where walkers could electronically sign a ribbon in honor of the person for whom they walk. Among the new features of the Walk was the Charity Miles app, which tracked walkers’ training and offered information about Walk Heroes, Dana-Farber patients who share their personal stories to inspire Walkers’ efforts. The 2020 Walk marked 10 years of participation for team Seshu Strong. Walking in honor of Seshu Kandukuri, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 19 after a two-year battle with cancer, team members joined from all over Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including 50 walkers at Grafton High School in Grafton, Mass., and 40 walkers at Nashua High School in Nashua, N.H. The team also set out to take hope as high as they could by summiting local mountains—including Mt. Washington, Mt. Monroe, and Mt. Eisenhower, and many others—with a Jimmy Fund Walk flag. “I am so thankful to our team and valuable donors, and for the great encouragement of our friends, families, colleagues and the community,” said Rao Kandukuri, Seshu’s father and team captain of Seshu Strong. “The world is built on a great supportive system!”

Rao was joined by three local students who served as co-captains: Ajay Vempati, Sreeja Chaparala and Sneha Prasad.

Team Brain Aid also knew they wanted to continue their team’s participation in the annual Walk, and, like many, had concerns about what a normally large-scale event would be like in a virtual setting. Team captain Kai Lam said that the mission and need remained the same, so Team Brain Aid wanted to continue their support of the event.

“Our fundraising events were different in this year, but the passion for supporting Dana-Farber was no less and passion carries us so far,” said Lam. “Many of our team members and supporters thought that this was one of the best years yet—bonds were strengthened, awareness was raised, and fundraising went well beyond expectations.”

Lam went on to explain that it was a great year and made Team Brain Aid excited for future Jimmy Fund Walks.

“Whatever future years bring, we're confident and will be ready to walk our way, wherever and however we’re needed.”

Less

For decades, the Blum Family has been an integral part of Dana-Farber’s success. Through service on the Board of Trustees and various committees, as well as strategic philanthropic support for key Institute initiatives and programs named in their honor, Maxwell Blum and his wife, Eleanor, truly left their mark on Dana-Farber.

For the past few decades, their daughters, Betty Ann and Marjorie, have honored the memory and legacy of their parents through continued involvement and generous giving. The sisters recently pledged $1 million in support of capital projects and strategic initiatives at Dana-Farber—a gift which provides powerful, early momentum to the Institute’s comprehensive campaign, currently in the quiet phase.

“My family has built a legacy of continuous support—we step up and do what we can, when we can,” said Betty Ann, a Dana-Farber Trustee since 1999, and member of the Trustee Campaign Planning Committee and the Joint Committee on Quality Improvement and Risk Management. “Whenever I hear of a need at the Institute, it’s my instinct to give right away at the level I can afford to give. That’s the Blum Family legacy.”

This most recent gift will provide funding for the new outpatient facility in Chestnut Hill, Mass., the opening of which was pushed to January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dana-Farber – Chestnut Hill will provide much-needed space to accommodate our growing patient population, expand access to Dana-Farber’s cutting-edge patient care, and ensure that the Institute has additional clinical space for social distancing measures that protect the health and safety of our patients and staff. Betty Ann also contributed to Dana-Farber’s Emergency Response Fund and the Feed the Frontline initiative in 2020.

Funding patient-centric programs like the COVID-19 response efforts is emblematic of the Blum Family’s involvement over the years. Through the Eleanor and Maxwell Blum Patient and Family Resource Center, established in 1998, and the Betty Ann and Marjorie Blum Pediatric Resource Center, created in 1999, the Blums have fostered programs that help patients and their families understand more about the disease they are facing and provide resources that can help them cope. The Blum Family Resource Center Van has been providing cancer education and cancer screenings to underserved neighborhoods in Boston since 2004.

“The Blums have been valued friends to the Institute for many years,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine. “Betty Ann and Marjorie’s thoughtful, strategic support for the comprehensive campaign enables us to continue providing the best care possible for our patients.”

“Support for the comprehensive campaign at this early stage is invaluable to ensuring we reach our goal,” said Trustee Monica Chandra, who serves as co-chair of the Trustee Campaign Planning Committee with Trustee Bob Stansky. “We are very appreciative to the Blum Family for recognizing a need, and coming forward immediately to fill it.”

Less

For more than 25 years, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) has pursued a dedicated mission of preventing and curing breast cancer by supporting groundbreaking research focused on every stage and subtype of the disease. As one of eight institutions awarded grants in BCRF’s inaugural funding cycle in 1994, Dana-Farber has been a proud partner in this cause from the very beginning.

Recently, BCRF awarded 22 Dana-Farber investigators grants totaling nearly $2.1 million. The funded projects, which support early career scientists and senior investigators alike, address key translational and clinical questions with potential to transform the status quo of breast cancer research and care. Funded studies range from exploring the activity of a new antibody therapy in early stage HER2-positive breast cancer to developing novel ways to predict which patients with triple-negative breast cancer will respond to immunotherapies.

The robust list of grantees includes Daniel Abravanel, MD, PhD; Monica Bertagnolli, MD; Myles Brown, MD, director of the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics and the Emil Frei III, MD, Professor of Medicine; Alan D’Andrea, MD, director of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers and director of the Center for DNA Damage and Repair; Judy Garber, MD, MPH, chief of the Division for Cancer Genetics and Prevention, director of the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome and TP53 Center, and the Susan F. Smith Chair; Sheheryar Kabraji, BM, BCh; William G. Kaelin Jr., MD, the Sidney Farber, MD, Professor of Medicine and 2019 Nobel Laureate; Panagiotis Konstantinopoulos, MD, PhD, director of translational research in the Gynecologic Oncology Program and co-director of the Center for BRCA and Related Genes; Ian Krop, MD, PhD, director of clinical research in the Breast Oncology Program; Nancy Lin, MD, director of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Program and the Program for Patients with Breast Cancer Brain Metastases; Xiaole (Shirley) Liu, PhD, director of the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics; David Livingston, MD, the Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics; Ursula Matulonis, MD, chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and the Brock-Wilson Family Chair; Otto Metzger, MD; Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, co-director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program and director of the Breast Immuno-Oncology Program; Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, vice chair of Medical Oncology, founder and director of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer, and director of the Adult Survivorship Program; Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD; Meredith Regan, ScD; Nikhil Wagle, MD; Adrienne Waks, MD; Eric Winer, MD, chief of the Division of Breast Oncology, chief clinical development officer, senior vice president for medical affairs, and the Thompson Chair in Breast Cancer Research; and Jean Zhao, PhD.

“During this undeniably difficult year, we are uplifted by the perseverance and fortitude of Dana-Farber’s world-class scientists,” said BCRF President and CEO Myra Biblowit. “We have no doubt that these dedicated researchers will be deeply involved in achieving our mission to end breast cancer.”

Less

Since 1991, Stop & Shop has been partnering with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to raise money for pediatric cancer research. The 2020 Help Cure Childhood Cancer campaign invited customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and northern Connecticut stores to round their purchases to the nearest dollar at checkout, with 100% of their change going to pediatric cancer research. Customers could also purchase reusable shopping bags featuring patient artwork, with 25% of the proceeds going to the campaign.

Customers shopping at StopandShop.com for pickup or home delivery—services that have been extremely popular over the past year—were able to give $1, $3 and $5 at checkout. A gift from the Stop & Shop Family Foundation supplemented customer contributions, for a total of $2.5 million raised in 2020 and a 30-year total of $73 million.

“Help Cure Childhood Cancer provides Stop & Shop’s caring customers and dedicated associates an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children and young adults who have been affected by cancer,” said Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid. “Their generosity is matched only by their impact.”

Store signage for the campaign featured photos of ambassadors like 2-year-old Daylight King, a patient in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic.

“Daylight knows exactly what she wants,” laughs her mother, Kesora King. “That will serve her well when she grows up, but she can be a handful now!” Kesora says that Daylight loves the activities specialists in the Jimmy Fund Clinic, and is delighted to do crafts and play games with them when she comes in for treatment.

Activities specialists have continued coming into the clinic to provide much needed support to families who are coping with the dual stresses of their child’s cancer diagnosis and COVID-19.

“Cancer doesn’t stop because of COVID-19 and neither does Dana-Farber,” said Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology and the David G. Nathan, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, who has continued leading research and treatment during the pandemic. “Support from Stop & Shop is always critical but even more so this year as the pandemic has influenced everything we do. This critical support allows us to continue to provide children with the most effective and least toxic treatments so that one day we can cure all children with cancer.”

Less

For 20 years, HomeGoods has been a valued partner of Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund through their “HomeGoods Helps Families Fight Cancer” campaign. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 HomeGoods campaign brought in more than$2.9 million in support of Dana-Farber’s cutting-edge research and patient care—an astounding total and the highest in the program’s history.

From Aug. 20 through Sept. 16, HomeGoods and Homesense invited customers nationwide to make a contribution during check-out. Shoppers also had the opportunity to purchase a limited edition reusable shopping bag, featuring original artwork by Jimmy Fund Clinic patients Cassilly, age 11, and Tyler, age 17. With 50% of the purchase price of each reusable bag and 100% of customer donations directly benefitting the Jimmy Fund, HomeGoods has once again made a tremendous difference in the lives of our patients. Cassilly is most often described as an energetic and athletic 11-year-old with a big personality. After being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), she maintained her positive attitude and looked for ways to give back to the Jimmy Fund. Her HomeGoods bag features a colorful, sunny floral design that reflects her love of summer and the outdoors, and her passion for making people happy whenever possible.

“Cassilly is great—her positive attitude has taken her far through this treatment. This is not an easy road to be on for any child and she’s done a remarkable job,” said Lewis Silverman, MD, Cassilly’s doctor.

Tyler is also passionate about giving back, and loves volunteering with his church and working on a graphic novel in his spare time. Tyler was diagnosed in May 2019 with a rare desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT), and he found that channeling his energy into the comic book has been a motivation and a distraction throughout his treatment.

“When I was diagnosed, I was a bit shocked, but I kind of just kept going and started my journey while working on my comic book,” said Tyler. “I kept afloat with encouraging words from my family and just looked to the future.”

The opportunity to design a HomeGoods reusable bag provided another creative outlet for Tyler. His design features a relaxing aquatic theme with fish swimming through a deep blue ocean. Since 2001, HomeGoods has raised more than $19 million in support of Dana-Farber’s lifesaving mission. In addition, their partnership with Jimmy Fund Clinic patients provides an ongoing opportunity for these young patients to express themselves creatively during treatment.

Less

While 2020 was different for many reasons, one thing that never wavered was the support of the Jimmy Fund Golf community, which helped raise $4 million for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute last year through Jimmy Fund Golf presented by Mohegan Sun. Across the board, the program’s volunteer tournament organizers showed incredible perseverance and resilience to fundraise for cancer research and care during a year like no other. Creativity was the theme of the summer to overcome challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. While many events successfully adapted their tournament days to bring supporters safely together on the course and adhere to local guidelines, others decided to expand their events beyond one day and offered participants the flexibility to play a round of golf on their own time.

In cases where it was not possible to gather in person, many tournament committees chose to continue their fundraising virtually, making appeals to their dedicated golfers, donors, and sponsors to raise funds for Dana-Farber’s patients and families during a time when their support was needed most. Some tournaments creatively added to their fundraising efforts by selling tournament-branded T-shirts and face masks, along with running auctions online. And instead of typical post-golf banquets, organizers pivoted to online video platforms to safely celebrate their fundraising success with their generous supporters.

Many tournaments, groups, and individuals also joined the new Jimmy Fund Golf Challenge to continue their fundraising in a fun and competitive way (See article on facing page).

During such extraordinary times, Jimmy Fund Golf is grateful to the thousands of volunteer tournament directors, committee members, donors, and sponsors for their steadfast commitment to the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber. In a year with many challenges, this community of dedicated golf supporters showed it will never let up in the fight against cancer.

New Initiative ‘Challenges’ Golfers to Think Outside the (Tee) Box

With many traditional golf tournaments canceled or postponed due to challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jimmy Fund Golf Challenge was launched for the 2020 golf season as a way for golfers to get creative and safely fundraise without attending a “traditional” golf tournament. This new virtual initiative gave golfers of all levels the opportunity to play and raise funds their way—anytime, anywhere—in support of patients and families at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Some participants took this opportunity to play golf on a special day or place, while others decided to play more than one round in a day, all while utilizing their online fundraising page to share their story and easily fundraise. With its flexibility of play and no fundraising minimum, the Jimmy Fund Golf Challenge was the perfect way to give new and seasoned golfers alike a way to get involved and give back. Leaning on support from the program’s generous sponsors, participants were also treated to prizes from companies like Mohegan Sun and Callaway as they hit their fundraising goals.

As Jimmy Fund Golf’s flagship event, the Sunrise to Sunset Jimmy Fund Golf Tournament, was canceled due to the pandemic, many past participants took part in this new initiative. Golfers included top individual fundraiser Kathy Moore and her husband Kevin, who played two rounds at their favorite New Hampshire courses; Sean Toland and his group of friends, who played 44 holes in one day in memory of Sean’s father; Jon Iorio, golfing in honor of his son, Luke, a patient at Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic; Richie Crifasi, a Dana-Farber pharmacist who hosted a virtual “closest to the pin” event in honor of his mother; Greg Fedynyshyn, who played 36 holes to raise money for the treatment that saved both him and his brother; and John Cronin, who played a round of golf on his birthday at the last course he played before he started treatment at Dana-Farber.

A few existing Jimmy Fund Golf tournaments rallied their participants and joined the Jimmy Fund Golf Challenge as well. Leading the way was the DefinitiveCares Charity Golf Challenge, which encouraged their employees to fundraise for Dana-Farber’s patients and families virtually. Other top tournaments included the Jim McNally Memorial Golf Tournament and the Steve Ronan/Tom McKay Budweiser Jimmy Fund Golf Classic, whose dedicated supporters continued to fundraise despite not being able to gather in person. In total, the Jimmy Fund Golf Challenge raised over $200,000 for Dana-Farber, funds that will make a lifesaving difference for adults and children with cancer during these difficult times.

Less

In 2013, Dana-Farber patient Darby Stott launched Team Darby to raise funds in the Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai, in support of research in metastatic breast cancer led by her oncologist, Eric P. Winer, MD. Although Darby passed away in 2014, devoted family and friends have continued to walk in her honor each year, raising $121,000 in 2020 to push their 8-year total past an incredible $1 million for The Darby Fund—the 12th Walk team to achieve this milestone in the event’s 32-year history. In December, more than 30 family members, friends, and supporters of Team Darby gathered online for a virtual celebration of this tremendous accomplishment. They were joined by Winer, who spoke on the progress that has been made in treating this devastating disease, thanks to their support.

Above: Members of Team Darby at the Copley Square finish of their inaugural Walk in 2013.

Less

In 2020, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) named Kenneth Kehl, MD, MPH, David Liu, MD, MPH, MS, and Srinivas Viswanathan, MD, PhD, as recipients of the Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award. The award provides grants to early career physician-scientists to facilitate their transition to independent clinical research careers. Since the beginning of the program in 1998, the foundation has awarded 339 Clinical Scientist Development Awards totaling over $152 million to junior investigators around the country working in a broad range of disease areas. Kehl, Liu, and Viswanathan received grants totaling more than $1.4 million to pursue their independent research studies into melanoma, lung cancer, and kidney cancer, respectively.

Kehl’s research focuses on training machine learning models to measure cancer outcomes based on data in patients’ electronic health records. Using “deep natural language processing” to replicate human curation, Kehl’s model generated outcomes that aligned with the actual overall patient outcomes in patients with lung cancer. With the funding from DDCF, Kehl will be able to improve upon and expand these techniques to other types of cancer and other types of treatment.

Liu is investigating the biological markers of tumor progression and resistance in metastatic melanoma. By using computational techniques from machine learning and statistical analyses on patient samples collected over time and treatment, he is tracing and analyzing the evolution of these tumors to create predictive models that can be used to advance precision medicine in melanoma.

Viswanathan is working to identify potential therapeutic targets for a rare, highly aggressive form of renal cell carcinoma called translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC). Previous studies into this disease have been limited in scale, though enough data exists to suggest that tRCC has a molecular profile that is distinct from more common types of kidney cancer. Fueled by the funding from DDCF, Viswanathan will analyze existing patient data to define tRCC’s distinct molecular profile, which will then be used to uncover novel therapeutic targets for the disease.

"We're thrilled to support Kenneth Kehl, MD, MPH, David Liu, MD, MPH, and Srinivas Viswanathan, MD, PhD, and their important medical research through the 2020 Clinical Scientist Development Awards," said Betsy Myers, program director for medical research at DDCF. "It is vital to support physician scientists at this crucial stage of their careers. We look forward to seeing the results of this clinical research and how they will continue to bring insights from their direct interactions with patients as their careers develop over the long term."

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has been a valued partner to Dana-Farber for two decades, having awarded close to $15 million in grants.

Less

Since 2015, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research has awarded more than $90 million in grants to accelerate research that will change the way cancer is treated. With two of these grants, totaling more than $1.7 million, Dana-Farber investigators are exploring new, more effective treatments for pediatric cancers.

Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, vice chair of pediatric oncology research and the Ted Williams Chair at Dana-Farber, previously identified the USP7 enzyme as a target in Ewing sarcoma, a rare tumor that forms in the bones or soft tissues of children and adolescents. Three Dana-Farber researchers—Sara Buhrlage, PhD, Jarrod Marto, PhD, and Stegmaier—are now working together to develop a best-in-class USP7 inhibitor into a drug candidate and demonstrate its efficacy in preclinical models of Ewing sarcoma. USP7 interferes with the disposal of abnormal proteins in a cell, thus fueling malignancy. There are currently no USP7 inhibitors in the clinic or in latter stages of development.

“The Mark Foundation’s generosity is allowing my colleagues and me to advance the development of our USP7 inhibitor so it can benefit patients in the clinic,” said Buhrlage, an inaugural recipient of one of The Mark Foundation’s Drug Discovery Awards. “We are grateful for their support of this exciting work.”

To accomplish this, the researchers are combining Buhrlage’s expertise in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, Marto’s in chemical proteomics and mass spectrometry, and Stegmaier’s in preclinical models and the biology and treatment of Ewing sarcoma. “The success of a USP7 drug in the treatment of patients with Ewing sarcoma would represent a major breakthrough, offering a precision medicine for this difficult-to-treat cancer,” said Stegmaier.

The Mark Foundation is also supporting the work of Hannah Uckelmann, PhD, who is studying ways to treat premalignant cells that can progress into acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She and her colleagues recently showed that NPM1-mutant clones progress to give rise to AML and that these cells also develop dependencies on the MLL gene and a related protein called menin. NPM1 mutations are commonly found in both pediatric and adult AML. Uckelmann is investigating the changes that occur as cells shift from normal blood stem cells to preleukemia and leukemia cells and how they respond to menin-MLL inhibitors at different stages of disease progression. Her findings have led to a phase 1/2 clinical trial of menin-MLL inhibition in patients with NPM1-mutant leukemia.

“These are exciting projects that will lead to advances for pediatric cancer patients,” said Ryan Schoenfeld, vice president for scientific research at The Mark Foundation. “We are proud to partner with Dana-Farber, an institution that shares our mission of supporting research that will transform the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.”

Less

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) is funding a $2 million research collaboration with Dana-Farber’s Irene Ghobrial, MD, to study smoldering multiple myeloma, a precursor condition that often gives rise to the blood cancer multiple myeloma. As part of this agreement, the foundation may provide additional funding pending initial results.

Combining the strengths of the MMRF, a leader in myeloma data generation, and Dana-Farber, a leader of research on myeloma and its precursor conditions, the initiative aims to identify markers of high-risk smoldering myeloma and develop new treatment strategies that could delay or prevent progression to active disease. The risk of progressing from smoldering to active myeloma is 10% per year, but some patients are more likely to progress rapidly due to certain risk factors, such as genetic abnormalities in their blood. Recent clinical trials show that treating high-risk smoldering myeloma can delay progression, giving patients more time before developing symptoms.

To learn how disease progression occurs and to develop therapies to prevent it, Ghobrial is screening for and studying patients with precursor conditions through the PCROWD and PROMISE studies, which she leads.

Building on these efforts, this landmark collaboration will give 500 patients with smoldering myeloma who are enrolled in PROMISE or PCROWD the opportunity to join the MMRF CureCloud study—a first-of-its-kind, direct-to-patient research initiative—and to donate their blood samples and medical records for in-depth analysis. CureCloud aims to create a massive hub of genomic and clinical data on patients with myeloma and its precursors. The initiative includes a novel in-home blood test designed to uncover the genetic makeup of abnormal blood cells in patients. Test results are returned directly to patients and their physicians.

“This revolutionary collaboration with the MMRF will enable us to build the most comprehensive data set for smoldering multiple myeloma,” said Ghobrial, Lavine Family Chair for Preventative Cancer Therapies, director of the Clinical Investigator Research Program, and head of the Michele and Steven Kirsch Laboratory at Dana-Farber. “Additionally, patients who participate will receive their genomic test results, which may be helpful in determining their risk of progression to active myeloma and their suitability for future clinical trials.”

The mission of the MMRF is to find a cure for every multiple myeloma patient. Founded in 1998 by Kathy Giusti, a patient with myeloma, and her twin sister, Karen Andrews, the MMRF has built the largest genomics data set of any cancer, opened nearly 100 clinical trials, and helped bring 13 FDA-approved therapies to market.

“Our collaboration with Dana-Farber will allow us to more precisely identify patients at higher risk of progression to active disease,” said MMRF Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Auclair, PhD. “It will also lay the groundwork for clinical trials that could transform the way we treat myeloma in the future.”

Less