Hope Funds for Cancer Research Award of Excellence NYC May 4th 2026

 Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D. was honored with the Hope Funds for Cancer Research Award of Excellence on May 4 during a black tie event held at a private club in New York City. The presentation took place during a formal dinner recognizing Hope Funds Fellows and Scientists, and was attended by supporters, alumni and grantees of the organization, which is dedicated to advancing innovative research for the most difficult-to-treat cancers. Speakers at the event included Hope Funds Trustee Richard Young, Ph.D. of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT; Parks Family Hope Funds Fellow Alexander Peterson, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Research Institute; and Dr. Doudna, who was presented the Hope Funds Award of Excellence for Basic Science by Don W. Cleveland, Ph.D., Hope Funds Trustee and Chair, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Doudna, along with Emmanuelle Charpentier, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors, a precise method for genome editing. The revolutionary technology allows researchers to edit the DNA of plants, animals, and microorganisms with extremely high precision, significantly impacting medicine and agriculture. Dr. Doudna was to have been presented with the Award of Excellence in 2020, but that event was canceled due to the onset of the COVID pandemic. The Award honors those who have made outstanding contributions to basic, clinical, and medical research in cancer or have conducted prominent advocacy and philanthropy on behalf of cancer research. Chairs for the black-tie dinner were Mr. Gary Jobson, Dr. Frank Slack, and Dr. Young. Dr. Joan Steitz and Mr. & Mrs. William D. Rueckert were Honorary Chairs. Eighty guests attended the event, which provides support for programmatic activities and to raise funds for postdoctoral fellowships in cancer research. to view photos please click on this link PHOTO

Hope Funds for Cancer Research Scientific Convening.

 On May 4th Hope Funds for Cancer Research held its annual Scientific Convening. Participants explored cutting-edge science with the potential to accelerate the rate of providing new treatments to people with difficult-to-treat cancers. Hope Funds for Cancer Research believes the field is at a critical junction in cancer research that requires increased scientific collaboration, which was a central focus at the Convening. The Scientific Convening was chaired by Hope Funds Trustees, Leah Rush Cann, Elsa Beyer Krall, Ph.D., Bluma Lesch, M.D., Ph.D., Andrew Mullen, Ph.D., and Committee Member Cricket Richter. The meeting included 60 participants and was held at a private location in New York City. Hope Funds Fellows, Raul Jobava, PhD, Jonathan Lee, PhD, and Alexander Peterson, PhD presented their work.  Participants in Panel Discussions included: Drs. Don Cleveland, Jennifer Doudna, Elaine Fuchs, Adrian Hobden, Robert Johnson, Simon Joost, Elsa Beyer Krall, Mat Legut, Bluma Lesch, Andrew Mullen, Juan Manuel Schvartzman, Frank Slack, Joan Steitz, Sohail Tavazoie, Bernardo Tavora and Richard Young. The aim of the Hope Funds for Cancer Research Scientific Convening is not only to highlight recent exciting advances, but to lay the groundwork for new advances in this field by bringing the best minds in cancer research to facilitate the next golden-age of discoveries and treatments.

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Hope Funds For Cancer Research Newport 2025

 On August 11 Hope Funds for Cancer Reseach held a very special brunch in a Garden Pavilion at the historic Newport RI mansion, The Elms. This Brunch was in honor of 12 individuals who have made Named Fellowships to Hope Funds. The organization calculates that Name Fellowships have totaled $3.7 million and accounted for more than one-third of the postdoctoral Fellowship awarded by Hope Funds since 2008 and the funding from these 12 individuals as counted for nearly half of the organizations fundraising and research support. 

The Named Gift donors were acknowledged as "a small, elite and mighty group that has made the single biggest impact for Hope Funds ability to fund cancer research,“ by Leah Rush Cann, Chair of the Executive Committee. 

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On Sunday afternoon, proceeding the Name Gift Brunch, a gathering was held at a private estate in Newport RI that included Named Gift Recipients, Major Donors, reserch Fellows and Alumni along with Trustees. It was a magical afternoon in a private “Gilded Age” setting.

The Hope Funds For Cancer Research Gala 2025

Hope Funds for Cancer Research, dedicated to advancing innovative research for the most difficult-to-treat cancers, held its 2025 Award of Excellence Gala on April 7 at a private club in New York City. Honored at the white-tie event were Richard O. Hynes, Ph.D., for Basic Science; Elaine Fuchs, Ph.D., for Basic Science; Donald W. Cleveland, Ph.D., for Basic Science; and Leah Rush Cann for Advocacy/Philanthropy. The Gala is held by Hope Funds for Cancer Research to provide support for programmatic activities and to raise funds for postdoctoral fellowships in cancer research, and this raised nearly $500,000. The Awards of Excellence, which honor those who have made outstanding contributions to basic, clinical, and medical research in cancer or have conducted prominent advocacy and philanthropy on behalf of cancer research. Chairs for the Awards Dinner were Mr. Gary Jobson, Mr. Andrew Robertson, and Dr. Richard Young. Dr. William G. Kaelin, Jr., Mrs. Nancy B. Parks, and Mr. & Mrs. William D. Rueckert were Honorary Chairs. 

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The New York Philharmonic Fall Gala 2024

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The Met Opera Fall Gala 2024

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Hope Funds for Cancer Research 2024 Award of Excellence Gala at The Elms

 Hope Funds for Cancer Research held its 2024 Award of Excellence Gala at The Elms in Newport, Rhode Island, on Saturday, June 8th, raising $300,000 for postdoctoral fellowships. The Chairs for the event, which included 125 guests, were Ross & Leah Cann, William & Fleur Rueckert, and Richard Young & Ceal Capistrano. William J. Kaelin, Jr. was Honorary Chair. The Dance Committee chairs were Gregg & Elizabeth Griffin and Madeline Berwind McDonough. Honored this year were James Bradner, M.D., for Medicine; the Doris Duke Foundation for Philanthropy (represented by Maurine Knighton); Carl H. June, M.D., for Medicine; Nicholas Lydon, Ph.D., for Clinical Development; and Kevan Shokat, Ph.D. for Basic Science. 

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