NEW YORK - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has launched its first major capital campaign since the 1980s. With a goal of raising $1 billion over five years, the Campaign for Memorial Sloan-Kettering will provide the means to expand the Center's programs and facilities in fast-emerging areas that hold the key to transform today's research opportunities into new ways of controlling and curing cancer.
Announcing the fundraising initiative was Harold Varmus, President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, along with Campaign co-chairs Douglas A. Warner III, Chairman of the Boards of Overseers and Managers and former chairman of JPMorgan Chase; and Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Vice Chairman of the Boards, Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Sloan-Kettering Institute and, until recently, chairman and CEO of the IBM Corporation.
"We've set an ambitious financial goal so that we can expand our roster of talented scientists and clinicians and our pacesetting programs," said Dr. Varmus. "We want to strengthen our technologically advanced research and cancer care facilities for the benefit of patients worldwide," he continued. "This is happening at a pivotal moment in the institution's history, a time when developments both at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and in the broader scientific community have converged to set the stage for rapid and dramatic progress in the fight against cancer."
Of the billion dollars to be raised, roughly half is earmarked for projects related to cancer treatment, such recruiting and training outstanding medical professionals and supporting the construction and renovation of patient-care facilities. The other half will help advance basic, translational, and clinical research in addition to funding a new research laboratory building on Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Upper East Side campus.
"Together with my colleagues on the Board, I am deeply committed to the Campaign and the role it will play in realizing our vision for Memorial Sloan-Kettering," said Mr. Warner. "We have worked closely with the Center's scientific and medical leadership to determine what we need to do to achieve crucial new progress in the fight against cancer. Launching the Campaign now is the decisive next step in implementing that plan."
Among the many important projects included in the Campaign are:
An all-new pediatric outpatient facility, connected to a renovated inpatient unit to provide children and their families with leading-edge treatment in a comfortable environment
21 new operating rooms with up-to-date capabilities for imaging and robotic surgery
New pathology suites to allow the rapid examination of tumor samples taken during surgery and facilitate a precise diagnosis
"Bridge" programs designed specifically to connect laboratory investigations to studies involving patients. These currently exist in four principal areas: experimental pathology and cancer biology; immunology and transplantation; imaging and radiation sciences; and experimental therapeutics.
A new 420-foot research laboratory building that will enable the Center to expand or develop programs in bioinformatics and computational biology; genetics and epidemiology; developmental biology and cell signaling; chemistry and structural biology; and genomic integrity, to name a few.
"The breakthroughs in genetics and molecular biology that are transforming our understanding of human cell growth are now ready to be translated into vastly improved detection and care for people with cancer," said Mr. Gerstner. "The opportunities for both the laboratory and the clinic have never been more promising."
The launch of the Campaign's public phase comes nearly two years after Memorial Sloan-Kettering began gathering a nucleus of support from board members and other generous contributors. So far, more than $457 million has been raised, providing a solid foundation for continuing success in the Campaign, which officially concludes on December 31, 2006.
Among the many commitments recorded during the Campaign's initial "quiet" phase are more than 70 gifts of $1 million and over, including the following:
Pledges of $25 million from Dorothy and Jack Byrne and the Byrne Family Foundation to establish the Byrne Family Center for Cancer Biology; $25 million from Sidney Kimmel to establish The Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers and to support research in the field; and $25 million from The Starr Foundation toward creation of the new surgical center at Memorial Hospital.
A $20 million contribution from William H. and Alice T. Goodwin through the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research toward the establishment of the Experimental Therapeutics Center.
Commitments of $10 million from David H. Koch to establish an initiative on the immunologic control of cancer, and $10 million from Claire and Leonard Tow for the establishment of the Claire Tow Pediatric Day Hospital and the Claire Tow Chair in Pediatric Oncology
A pledge of $7.5 million from Honorary Co-Chairman of the Boards Laurance S. Rockefeller, including funds to establish the Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine, and $7 million from an anonymous donor to establish an initiative focused on lung cancer research.
Of the total amount raised to date, members of the Boards of Overseers and Managers contributed more than $100 million in gifts and pledges to help get the Campaign off to a strong start.
Journalists may contact the Department of Public Affairs for more information.
