NYC Gazette

A new initiative, the Weill Cancer Hub East, has been established with a significant $50 million donation from the Weill Family Foundation. This contribution, directed by Joan and Sanford I. Weill, will be matched by additional philanthropic funding from partner institutions, bringing the total to over $125 million. The hub aims to overcome institutional divisions and bring together leading experts in fields such as cancer biology, clinical trials, immunology, nutrition, and metabolism for collaborative research.

Over the next ten years, multidisciplinary teams will examine the interplay between solid tumors and their environments, considering how nutrition and beneficial microbes influence the success of cancer treatments like immunotherapy. The hub will also explore the effects of emerging therapeutics, including GLP-1 agonists, on cancer progression and treatment.

“The Weill Cancer Hub East will offer doctors and scientists a tremendous opportunity to revolutionize the treatment of cancer, a disease that complicates so many lives,” stated Sandy Weill, founder of the Weill Family Foundation. “With the best minds in the field armed with the most advanced research techniques, the Weill Cancer Hub East will seek to elevate immunotherapy and improve patient care for people battling cancer.”

Already, the Weill Family Foundation and the Weill family have extended over $1 billion in philanthropy across the globe, supporting education, social causes, music, arts, and medical research. The Weill Cancer Hub East builds on this legacy, following the establishment of the Weill Neurohub in 2019, which focuses on neurological and psychiatric disease research.

The Weill Cancer Hub East's emphasis will be on how metabolism affects immunotherapy, using advancements in metabolomics, immunology, computational analysis, and artificial intelligence. “This unprecedented partnership in our region’s biomedical innovation ecosystem has the potential to speed cures and treatments where they are most needed,” said Christopher L. Eisgruber, president of Princeton University.

The hub will provide seed funding for projects aimed at reprogramming the tumor microenvironment and modifying patients' metabolisms and microbiomes. Led by such researchers as Dr. Joshua Rabinowitz, Dr. Sohail Tavazoie, and Dr. Jedd Wolchok, the hub plans to delve deeply into the effects of diet, metabolism, and microbiome on cancer immunotherapy.

Dr. Richard Lifton, president of The Rockefeller University, remarked, “The funding for this collaboration allows for a deep, mechanistic investigation into how one’s diet, metabolism, and microbiome can affect cancer immunotherapy.”

In addition to funding research, the hub will support the recruitment of new talent and offer training opportunities for upcoming cancer researchers. Regular scientific meetings and symposia will encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration.

“The Weill Cancer Hub East has enormous potential to transform the way we treat cancer and change the world,” Sandy Weill affirmed.