The Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI) at Mount Sinai and the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) are launching a unique research program that will fund collaborations between TCI physician-scientists and colleagues from other established cancer research institutions to address the worldwide rising rates of cancer due to aging. The partnership will enhance the impact of both TCI and SWCRF through cross-institutional, cutting-edge research on abnormal gene function that causes cancer, aiming to uncover the link between aging and cancer and to identify targeted therapies.
Both organizations will contribute equally to this pivotal, 2-year, $1 million research program. They will work together to prioritize, evaluate, and award research grants submitted for review by both TCI-affiliated and non–TCI-affiliated scientists throughout the 2-year term of this collaboration, which starts this year.
Samuel Waxman, MD
“Science works better with collaboration,” said Samuel Waxman, MD, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation and Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) and Oncological Sciences at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. “This model will provide an excellent opportunity to cast a wider net and connect investigators and labs who may not typically work together with the dual aim: investigate why aging in particular makes the body more susceptible to cancer and develop new, effective, and less toxic treatments for age-related cancers.”
A Growing Concern
The partnership between TCI and SWCRF comes at a pivotal time, as aging increasingly becomes a leading risk factor for cancer. Older adults are a rapidly growing segment of the United States and global population, and it has been well documented that the incidence of cancer has continued to rise in people older than 65.
TCI is a leading cancer center with an integrated, collaborative approach to cancer care. The institution has earned Designated Cancer Center status from the National Cancer Institute for a second consecutive 5-year cycle. SWCRF was founded in 1976 by Dr. Waxman and has since focused on eradicating cancer through funding ongoing collaborative, cross-institutional research around abnormal gene function to lay the groundwork for developing minimally toxic treatments for all patients with cancer.
