The Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation has awarded Dana-Farber Cancer Institute an extraordinary $20 million grant to advance metastatic breast cancer research and care. With this funding, the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation has made the largest non-federal grant to metastatic breast cancer research at Dana-Farber, reflecting their commitment to improving the lives of patients living with stage IV breast cancer, a critical area where there are not yet cures.
"We are pleased to award this grant to drive advancements in metastatic breast cancer at Dana-Farber which we believe will improve patient care," said Eduardo and Elaine Saverin, co-founders of the Foundation. "Our goal is to enable Dana-Farber to continue to make a significant impact on the treatments available to and the long-term outcomes for people living with late-stage breast cancer. We have tremendous respect for Dana-Farber and Dr. Sara Tolaney's commitment to patients and families."
Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute added, "This extraordinary grant from the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation will allow Dana-Farber to accelerate our approach to improve the treatment and care of metastatic breast cancer. With this funding, Dana-Farber can continue its work as a global leader in driving novel investigations that address the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer."
Specifically, the grant from the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation will allow Dana-Farber to focus on therapeutic innovation across key areas in metastatic breast cancer research, including:
- Optimizing clinical trials to identify biomarkers of response and resistance and rapidly translate promising preclinical strategies into patient studies.
- Continuing the Saverin Research Awards to seed the most innovative investigations in metastatic breast cancer led by Dana-Farber physician-scientists.
- Expanding resources and infrastructure to integrate and analyze clinical, genomic, and imaging data from more than 20,000 patients and counting.
- Harnessing AI to predict outcomes, personalize therapies, understand tumor-immune interactions, and identify resistance mechanisms.
- Advancing liquid diagnostics to detect early recurrence in metastatic settings.
"We're grateful to the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation for their incredible contributions to our metastatic breast cancer research program and infrastructure which will significantly impact the productivity and success of our work in late-stage breast cancer," said Sara Tolaney, MD, MPH, chief of the division of breast oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "With the Foundation's support, we will endeavor to identify more efficacious therapies to treat stage IV breast cancer and develop innovative technologies to accelerate our progress and improve patient experiences with metastatic disease."
