With a $35 million gift from researcher, philanthropist, and race car driver Theodore Giovanis, FHFMA, MBA, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine will study the biologic roots of the most fatal aspect of cancer: how it metastasizes through the body. The contribution, which is a 15-year commitment, will establish the Giovanis Institute for Translational Cell Biology, dedicated to studying metastasis. The institute’s researchers aim to make discoveries that reveal common features of metastasis across cancer types, with the potential to develop new therapies.
Theodore Giovanis, FHFMA, MBA
Andrew Ewald, PhD
Overall, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, and some estimates indicate that about two-thirds of cancer deaths are linked to metastasis. “Cancer is most dangerous when the disease has spread to many parts of the body, and conventional treatments are not effective enough for patients with metastatic disease,” said the new Giovanis Institute Director, Andrew Ewald, PhD, the Virginia DeAcetis Professor in Basic Cancer Research and Director of the Department of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Research in our department has shown that many different cancers use similar molecular tools to spread, and we seek to design treatments to disrupt this process.”
A History of Giving
Dr. Ewald and other researchers have previously received research funding from the Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation for Health and Policy, named to honor Mr. Giovanis’ late wife, who died of metastatic breast cancer in 2010. Mr. Giovanis is an advisory board member of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences.
“I think of myself as someone who wants to make a difference, and I can leverage the work of my foundation to a much broader and more impactful scale by providing this gift to Johns Hopkins,” said Mr. Giovanis.
Born in Baltimore and a Maryland resident, Mr.Giovanis has an extensive background in hospital system finance and insurance regulation. He led the legal battle for hospitals for a multibillion-dollar settlement in 2012 to correct an error in reimbursement rates for hospitals. He was among the first staff members to run the Health Services Cost Review Commission in Maryland, which is the only state to annually review and set Medicare and Medicaid payment rates for hospitals. Currently, Mr. Giovanis is a professional sports car driver and owner of Team TGM in the International Motor Sports Association.
The institute will be housed in the Department of Cell Biology at Johns Hopkins Medicine on the East Baltimore campus. It will include a core group of cross-departmental scientists who focus on fundamental mechanisms of cancer metastasis, and the organization will also award grants to fund metastasis research at Johns Hopkins more broadly.
