Dana-Farber Cancer Institute provides cancer treatment and research services in Boston, serving both adult and pediatric patients. It combines patient care with a broad program of clinical trials and basic, translational, and collaborative research to advance cancer treatments. Treatments include personalized care and access to more than 700 clinical trials, aiming to tailor therapies to the patient’s tumor profile and disease type, often through targeted therapies, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgical options offered at multiple treatment centers and satellite sites. The Institute differentiates itself through its affiliation with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, its long history of cancer research breakthroughs, nationwide and international reach, and the Jimmy Fund to support patients and research. Its goal is to defeat cancer by delivering expert care while rapidly translating research discoveries into new treatments for patients everywhere.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$54.9M
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts
Founded
1947
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Upstage Lung Cancer presents Barry Manilow Tribute concert to support Lung Cancer research. Upstage Lung Cancer founder Hildy Grossman performs with fellow singers at a previous Upstage Lung Cancer benefit concert. Emmy Award-Winning Joyce Kulhawik Hosts Upstage Lung Cancer's 18th Annual Benefit Concert in Watertown, MA WATERTOWN, MA, UNITED STATES, October 7, 2026 / EINPresswire.com / - Upstage Lung Cancer (ULC), a nonprofit organization using the power of the performing arts to create awareness and fund lung cancer research, announces its 18th annual benefit concert, BARRY MANILOW: A Concert Tribute to a Master Showman. The live event takes place Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 7:30 PM at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA. Upstage Lung Cancer's 18th annual fall concert celebrates the music and legacy of Barry Manilow, Billboard's #1 Adult Contemporary Artist of all time. This year's benefit concert extends the urgent message that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer. In December 2025, doctors announced that they had found a stage-one cancerous tumor in Barry Manilow's left lung. Manilow said he never expected lung cancer would happen to him, but thanks to the early detection, his medical team was optimistic. "It's pure luck (and a great doctor) that it was found so early," Manilow said. This narrative is familiar to ULC founder and survivor Hildy Grossman, whose own cancer was found by accident. Upstage Lung Cancer's core mission is to ensure early detection is driven by accessible screening and innovative diagnostics, not by chance or accident. "Music has a unique ability to unite people around a shared cause," says Grossman. "Honoring Barry Manilow's timeless catalogue, while supporting lung cancer research, offers an evening of immense joy for a vital, life-saving purpose." The evening will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning arts and entertainment critic Joyce Kulhawik. Featured vocalists include acclaimed performers Brian De Lorenzo, Hildy Grossman of The Follen Angels, Michael Hammond of The Company Theatre, and Paula Markowicz of Divas With A Twist. Musical accompaniment will be provided by The Follen Angels band. The concert will also include the announcement of ULC's annual Fan Award to Bianca Bye and Leah Phillips, founders of the Young Lung Cancer Initiative. Other guests include Francine Jacobson, MD, MPH, thoracic radiologist, and Lauren Coye, young lung cancer survivor. About Upstage Lung Cancer Upstage Lung Cancer is a cancer advocacy organization that uses music and the performing arts to increase awareness, de-stigmatize lung cancer, and raise funds for early detection research. ULC founder, lung cancer survivor and jazz recording artist Hildy Grossman, lead singer of The Follen Angels, has combined her passion for music with her desire to foster knowledge about the leading cause of cancer death, with the goal of spotlighting new directions in lung cancer research and early detection. Over the past 20 years, Upstage Lung Cancer has funded more than $4.5 million in early detection research grants, investing in research opportunities. This year, grants were awarded to leading doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, and the Koch Institute at MIT. Upstage Lung Cancer maintains ongoing partnerships with LUNGevity Foundation, GO2 for Lung Cancer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Koch Institute at MIT. Ticket & Registration Information Proceeds support lung cancer research and early-detection initiatives. Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2026 Time: 7:30 PM EDT Location: Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA Hildy Grossman Upstage Lung Cancer +1 617 835 9722 [email protected] Visit Healthcare Industry Today on social media: LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube TikTok X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. Healthcare Industry Today do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
BIDMC welcomes new Surgery and neurosurgery leaders. October 06, 2026 Seth Karp, MD, named Chair of Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Department of Surgery; gavin P. Dunn, MD, PhD, appointed Chair of new Department of Neurosurgery. BOSTON - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) today announced the appointment of distinguished leaders to advance the future of surgical and neurosurgical care across the hospital. Seth Karp, MD, has joined BIDMC as the Chair of the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Department of Surgery. Karp will also serve as the Chair of Surgery at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Gavin P. Dunn, MD, PhD, has been appointed as the inaugural Chair of the new Department of Neurosurgery and the Neurosurgeon-in-Chief at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In these leadership positions, Dr. Karp and Dr. Dunn will also work to support the Dana-Farber Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Collaboration, which will bring together world-class clinicians to deliver transformational, precision medicine in an environment solely dedicated to defying cancer. "Dr. Karp and Dr. Dunn are both renowned in their fields and will add their wisdom and expertise to our growing teams in surgery and neurosurgery for our patients and their families," said Pete Healy, president, BIDMC, and divisional president, Metro Boston, Beth Israel Lahey Health. "They will be key leaders as we continue to shape the cancer collaboration with Dana-Farber and deliver the future of cancer care to the region." "This is an exciting time of growth for our surgery programs, and we are pleased to welcome Dr. Karp and Dr. Dunn as respected leaders to lead the way forward," said Alexa B. Kimball, president & CEO, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC (HMFP). "They are both talented surgeons, researchers and educators with strong commitments to excellence and patient-centered care." "I am honored to join BIDMC and HMFP as we enhance surgical care within both organizations," said Karp. "Together, we will advance clinical excellence and quality by building dedicated, cohesive teams that develop and integrate pioneering research into caring for our patients." "BIDMC is committed to advancing groundbreaking research, education and high-quality patient care in the neurosciences," said Dunn. "I look forward to working with the outstanding clinicians in our newly established department, where we will be able to build on a strong foundation to grow our program." About seth Karp, MD. Since 2018, Dr. Karp served as Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and System Surgeon-in-Chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was the H. William Scott Jr. Chair in Surgery and Professor of Surgery, Biomedical Ethics and Society, and Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He joined the Vanderbilt faculty as Director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center in 2011, a position he held for 11 years, over which time the Center became the largest in the United States, performing nearly 1,000 solid-organ transplants per year, and was named Chair of the Department of Surgery in 2015. Dr. Karp is nationally known for his expertise in liver transplantation, transplant system performance and the use of marginal grafts. He has held numerous leadership positions in the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and testified in front of Congress three times on organ policy. He served as Deputy editor of the American Journal of Transplantation. He is a fellow of the American Surgical Association, American College of Surgeons and Southern Surgical Association. His clinical research interests include increasing the number of organs available for transplantation, optimizing the use of organs, and understanding and improving health for rural and underserved populations. His basic research interests are in molecules and mechanisms necessary for liver regeneration, and curing monogenic liver disease in children. Dr. Karp received his undergraduate degree in physics and astrophysics and his master's degree in astrophysics from Harvard University and his medical degree from the joint Harvard/MIT program in health sciences and technology. He completed his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and transplant fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. About gavin P. Dunn. A respected neurosurgeon and researcher, Dr. Dunn specializes in neurosurgical oncology. He most recently served as Director of the Brain Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, where his clinical practice focuses on caring for patients with primary and metastatic brain cancers, as well as general neurosurgical conditions. He is also a Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and a Captain in the United States Navy Reserves Medical Corps. He is a fellow and member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. Dr. Dunn's NIH-funded research focuses on understanding the immune response to brain tumors and the fundamental basis of CNS immunobiology. His work on the Brain Tumor Immunity cycle involves preclinical models and translational work that has resulted in the development of novel personalized cancer vaccine clinical studies. He is a prior Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old STAR award recipient and co-chair of a clinical trial through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Neuro-Oncology focused on recurrent glioblastoma. Dr. Dunn earned his undergraduate degree in molecular biology from Princeton University and his medical degree and PhD in immunology from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed his neurosurgery residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a leading academic medical center, where extraordinary care is supported by high-quality education and research. BIDMC is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a healthcare system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education. Media Relations Manager Kim lucey. Please note: The contact information above is for journalists and news media only. For patient care and all other inquiries, please contact your doctor or BIDMC directly.
Two Dana-Farber researchers receive prestigious New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. Posted date October 6, 2026 Xin Gu, PhD, and Nicholas Polizzi, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have received New Innovator Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. The prestigious award supports early career investigators pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact on biomedical and behavioral science. Gu, an independent investigator in the Dana-Farber Department of Cancer Biology and assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School Department of Cell Biology, and Polizzi, an independent investigator in the Dana-Farber Department of Cancer Biology and assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, will each receive $2.375 million in funding over five years to further their impact and address challenges related to biomedical science. Gu was awarded grant number DP2CA325381-01, and Polizzi received grant number DP2GM170825-01. Established at Dana-Farber in September 2024, the Xi Gu Lab elucidates molecular mechanisms that are key for cellular homeostasis, including nuclear protein turnover by a novel ubiquitin-independent mechanism: the midnolin-proteasome pathway. The Gu lab aims to discover more ubiquitin-independent protein degradation pathways naturally used by cells, define their biochemical mechanisms and harness them for therapeutic applications. Gu has been recognized with several prior awards, including the Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists, a Klingenstein Fellowship Award in Neuroscience, a Smith Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research and selection as a Pew Biomedical Scholar. The Polizzi Lab uses protein design to study how proteins bind to small molecules. Polizzi's team uses deep learning to create novel biosensors for cancer therapeutics and protein-based tools for chemical biology. By designing proteins from scratch that bind small-molecule drugs, the team is investigating how proteins change shape upon drug binding, which in turn affects their function. This work not only elucidates how human proteins could be more effectively drugged, but also creates new ways to make existing drugs safer. Polizzi previously was the recipient of an NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award and has received high-risk, high-reward research funding from the W. M. Keck Foundation. The NIH Common Fund High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supports researchers at different career stages who propose highly innovative research that may be difficult to pursue with traditional NIH funding mechanisms. The program consists of four awards: The NIH Director's Pioneer Award, New Innovator Award, Transformative Research Award and Early Independence Award. This year, 58 research grants were awarded, totaling approximately $237.5 million, to support investigators pursuing bold ideas that challenge conventional approaches and could open new pathways to scientific discovery. In addition to the NIH Common Fund, funding comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and the Office of Research Innovation, Validation and Application (ORIVA). Cancer Biology Related Doctors and Researchers Media Contacts If you are a journalist and have a question about this story, please call 617-632-4090 and ask to speak to a member of the media team, or email [email protected]. The Media Team cannot respond to patient inquiries. For more information, please see Contact Us. Xin Gu, PhD Nicholas Polizzi, PhD
Genetic mutation identified as significant risk factor for lung cancer in market innovation. September 19, 2026 WASHINGTON / RankWire.AI / - A groundbreaking study published in the journal Science has revealed a rare inherited genetic mutation that can elevate an individual's risk of developing lung cancer by approximately 25 times overall and by about 60 times among non-smokers, according to researchers. This research, carried out by scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in collaboration with the 23andMe Research Institute, utilized de-identified genetic information from over 3.3 million individuals. The germline variant known as EGFR T790M was identified by the team as one of the strongest inherited risk factors for lung cancer discovered to date. This mutation takes place in the epidermal growth factor receptor gene, which is responsible for controlling cell growth and division within lung tissue. While somatic EGFR mutations, acquired during a person's lifetime, are recognized as key drivers of non-small cell lung cancer, the T790M germline mutation is inherited from birth and is present in every cell. Data from the National Cancer Institute indicates that this mutation affects roughly 1 in every 15,850 individuals in the United States. Dr. Jaclyn LoPiccolo, the principal author of the study, pointed out that carriers of the variant have about a 62-fold increased risk of lung cancer among never-smokers, compared to roughly 11 times in those with a history of smoking. Genetic lineage analysis uncovered a higher concentration of the EGFR T790M mutation in populations across Southern Appalachia, notably in Tennessee and Alabama. Evolutionary geneticists traced the mutation back to British and Irish settlers who migrated to North America during the colonial period, with its prevalence increasing after a genetic bottleneck approximately 200 years ago. Senior study author Dr. Pasi A. Jänne highlighted that, although current lung cancer screening mostly targets tobacco use, recognizing potent genetic risk factors offers new possibilities for focused low-dose computed tomography screening in individuals without a history of smoking. Genetic variant could amplify lung cancer risk up to 60 times in non-smokers. Supported by the National Institutes of Health through preclinical and clinical research, scientists confirmed that this mutation shows a strong specific connection with lung cancer, with no significant links to 17 other prevalent cancers evaluated in the dataset. Oncologists pointed out that, despite tobacco exposure remaining the primary cause of lung cancer overall, cases among non-smokers are becoming a significant global health concern. Companies like AstraZeneca are actively developing targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as Tagrisso to combat EGFR-mutated lung cancers as tumors progress. Dr. Alexander Gusev, co-senior author of the study, remarked that the findings demonstrate how a single inherited point mutation can have an extraordinarily strong impact on disease susceptibility. Medical professionals advise those with multiple family members affected by lung cancer, unexplained multifocal lung nodules, or roots tracing back to Southern Appalachia to seek guidance from genetic counselors. The researchers stressed that carrying the mutation does not necessarily lead to lung cancer, as environmental factors and secondary genetic changes also influence the risk of malignant transformation over a lifetime. Multi-Research center study analyzes genetic data from over three million individuals. The consortium plans to broaden observational studies through the ongoing INHERIT Study, aiming to investigate additional inherited EGFR variants among diverse racial groups. Long-term analysis will focus on pinpointing specific environmental triggers and secondary genetic alterations that determine why some carriers develop tumors while others remain asymptomatic. Findings on population genetics, relative risk assessments, and screening protocols are accessible through peer-reviewed medical repositories and institutional release portals. Clinical researchers will showcase updated biomarker data at upcoming international oncology conferences to guide future screening practices.
Modern blood cancer care demands more than a diagnostic result.As patients live longer and therapies become increasingly personalized, physicians need continuous insight into disease biology, immune response, and treatment effectiveness.