$50 Million Gift for Weill Cancer Hub East

From left: The Rockefeller University President Dr. Richard P. Lifton; Sanford I. Weill, founder of the Weill Family Foundation and chair emeritus of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Board of Fellows; Christopher L. Eisgruber, president of Princeton University; Dr. Jonathan C.A. Skipper, president of Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research; and Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. The institutions will collaborate on research to understand the relationships between metabolism, nutrition and cancer. Photo by John Abbott

With a mission to understand how nutrition and metabolism impact the body’s ability to control cancer, four leading research institutions have united under the Weill Cancer Hub East, an innovative, collaborative partnership that aims to transform cancer treatment. The initiative connects world-class experts from Princeton University, The Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medicine’s Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research to enhance a therapeutic strategy known as immunotherapy that harnesses a patient’s own immune cells to treat cancer.

The Weill Cancer Hub East was established with a transformational $50 million gift from the Weill Family Foundation, directed by visionary benefactors Joan and Sanford I. Weill, and matched with philanthropy from each partner institution that together will total more than $125 million. The initiative seeks to break down institutional barriers and unite top experts in cancer biology, cancer clinical trials, immunology, nutrition and metabolism to drive pioneering, cross-field collaboration that pushes the boundaries of scientific discovery.

Over the next decade, the Weill Cancer Hub East will marshal multidisciplinary teams to explore the complex relationship between solid tumors and the environment in which they form and grow. Their investigations will leverage the complementary strengths of each research institution to illuminate how the food we eat and the beneficial microbes that help metabolize that food influence the effectiveness of cancer treatments such as immunotherapy. The hub will also evaluate how emerging therapeutics, including a class of diabetes and anti-obesity drugs called GLP-1 agonists, might impact cancer progression and treatment.

Heralded as the “fifth pillar” alongside surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and precision-targeted therapeutics, immunotherapy is a powerful approach for many types of cancers. While the other therapies attempt to remove or attack cancer cells directly, immunotherapy utilizes a patient’s own immune system to strike the disease from within.

At Weill Cornell Medicine, the hub’s scientific activities will be led by Dr. Jedd Wolchok, the Meyer Director of the Meyer Cancer Center, co-director of the Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory and co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Wolchok will lead a team of expert physician-scientists in the fields of cancer and nutrition, including outstanding faculty in the Meyer Cancer Center and the Friedman Center for Human Nutrition.

“How we can increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy across all cancer types and patients is one of the scientific questions that most needs answering,” said Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. “By convening world-class institutions with leading investigators in their respective fields, including those at Weill Cornell’s Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, the Weill Cancer Hub East seeks to discover new ways that nutrition and gut microbes can improve the immune response to the disease. This initiative is a testament to the power of philanthropy to advance science and medicine, and we are profoundly appreciative of Joan, Sandy and the Weill Family Foundation for their out-of-the-box, visionary commitment.”