A $5 million gift from the Edward P. Evans Foundation will create the Edward P. Evans Center for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The gift will help Dana-Farber in transformative collaborative research aimed at treating, preventing, and ultimately curing MDS. Dana-Farber has also committed institutional matching funds over the next 5 years to support the Center, the Center’s faculty, and MDS research within the Center.
Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD
David Steensma, MD
Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, and David Steensma, MD, will lead the Center as Scientific Director and Clinical Research Director, respectively. Dr. Steensma will also serve as the Edward P. Evans Chair in MDS Research. Both Drs. Steensma and Ebert will serve on two steering committees for the Center as well.
The Edward P. Evans Foundation’s benefactor, Edward P. Evans, was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of various companies, a businessman, philanthropist, and horseman. Frustrated by the siloed nature of the work on MDS in terms of both treatment and research, Mr. Evans founded the Foundation to invest in transformative collaborative research aimed at treating, preventing, and ultimately curing MDS. Following Mr. Evans’ death in December 2010, the Foundation’s primary mission became supporting transformational and collaborative medical research in the areas of MDS and acute myeloid leukemia. ■
