Drs. David Scheinberg and Lisa DeAngelis
MSK today announced it is a founding member of Break Through Cancer, a newly launched foundation aimed at accelerating collaborative research, clinical trials, and cures for the deadliest cancers. The foundation is being launched with a $250 million matching gift challenge from Mr. and Mrs. William H. Goodwin, Jr. and their family, and the estate of William Hunter Goodwin III.
Break Through Cancer’s model will bring together and provide substantial funding to multidisciplinary teams comprised of researchers from founding members MSK, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.
The organization is supported by a board that includes leaders from each institution, including Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD, MSK’s Physician-in-Chief and Chief Medical Officer, and David A. Scheinberg, MD, PhD, Chair of MSK’s Molecular Pharmacology Program and Director of the Center for Experimental Therapeutics.
“Break Through Cancer’s differentiator is its commitment to collaboration,” said Dr. Scheinberg. “Its model allows some of the country’s most talented clinical researchers, scientists, and engineers to work together to advance our understanding of deadly cancers and discover effective therapies for those diseases.”
“MSK is proud to collaborate with our colleagues around the country in a visionary effort like Break Through Cancer,” said Dr. DeAngelis. “Each institution has unique and valuable insights, expertise, and resources to contribute to this important effort, which we are confident will benefit patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.”
Break Through Cancer will initially focus on funding research into highly challenging cancer types, including pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, glioblastoma, and acute myelogenous leukemia. Together, Break Through Cancer and the five institutions will identify teams that will advance research projects capable of bringing new approaches and new thinking as rapidly as possible to these cancers. A scientific advisory board of cancer experts from outside the participating institutions will help guide Break Through Cancer’s research priorities.
