We fund collaborative research to bring faster cures to patients

The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) funds research by investigators who commit to collaborating across institutions and disciplines, and who study novel approaches for understanding the genetic causes of cancer.

Our funded-investigators become members of the Foundation's Institute Without Walls™, a world-class group of scientists, physicians, and oncologists who share information and resources to speed the pace of cancer research.

Our commitment to collaboration has resulted in significant breakthroughs—from discovering genetic mutations that cause cancer to identifying potential novel therapeutics. Grants to SWCRF-funded scientists often leverage additional funding from major cancer organizations, such as the National Cancer Institute.

In addition to supporting ongoing collaborative research on specific cancers, our scientists are investigating the biology of cancer to find treatments across disease types.

This collaborative model of scientific investigation has led to several discoveries that have been published in the world's leading scientific journals.

HOW WE INVEST IN CANCER RESEARCH

Since 1976, we have raised approximately $100 million to fund more than 200 cancer researchers. In the past ten years alone, our investment in researching a range of cancer categories has been more than $23 million, broken down as follows:

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS THROUGH
COLLABORATION

LIVER CANCER

We pioneered the use of the first successful liver cancer drug treatment through an international consortium led by Mount Sinai.

BREAST CANCER

We created a novel combination of two existing cancer therapies for the treatment of hormone-resistant breast cancer, producing a new clinical trial at several New York hospitals led by Mount Sinai.

LEUKEMIA

We partnered with researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Hematology to develop the first successful targeted differentiation therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) with all-trans-retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide which increased the disease’s five-year survival rate from 25% to 95%.

PEDIATRIC CANCER

We brought together scientists from the Harvard Cancer Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to develop a targeted therapy for a rare childhood cancer, which is currently in clinical trials.

LUNG CANCER

We advanced the paradigm of treatment for lung cancer by adding targeted drugs to chemotherapy through a collaboration between Dartmouth and Mount Sinai.