Abstract
Ludwig Cancer Research, based in New York, NY, announced that it will disburse $540 million from the estate of Daniel K. Ludwig equally to Ludwig Centers at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago.
In one of the largest single philanthropic gifts ever made to support cancer research, Ludwig Cancer Research, based in New York, NY, announced that it will disburse $540 million from the estate of the late shipping magnate Daniel K. Ludwig equally to six institutions.
In its January 6 announcement, the organization said that the money would fund cancer research at Ludwig Centers at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago, based on stipulations Ludwig made before his death in 1992.
“Daniel Ludwig viewed cancer as a major challenge to mankind, which requires a comprehensive and concerted effort to address,” says Ed McDermott, Ludwig Cancer Research trustee and president and CEO of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, also based in New York.
Beth Russell and Geoffrey Greene, PhD, co-director of the Ludwig Center at the University of Chicago in Illinois, discuss an experiment.
Beth Russell and Geoffrey Greene, PhD, co-director of the Ludwig Center at the University of Chicago in Illinois, discuss an experiment.
Inspired by President Richard Nixon's “War on Cancer,” Ludwig founded the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in 1971. His will established the six U.S. centers in 2006 with an initial $120 million endowment, followed by donations of an additional $240 million for endowed professorships and operating expenses.
“We've had a good return on the investment,” says McDermott. “The Centers have already generated the first comprehensive maps of the genomic landscape, paved the way for ‘smart drugs’ and immunotherapy, and laid the foundation to treat certain rare and fast-spreading types of cancers.”
The latest gift, which completes Ludwig's original endowment plan for the centers, is designed to offer funding in perpetuity by allowing each center to invest $90 million and draw an estimated $4 to $5 million in interest annually.
“Now that these Ludwig Centers have been securely established, the objective is to extend and strengthen the collaboration between them and the various branches of the Institute,” says McDermott.
The centers combined with the Institute make up Ludwig Cancer Research, a nonprofit, international, collaborative network of acclaimed scientists with an endowment of $1.2 billion. To date, Ludwig Cancer Research has dedicated more than $2.5 billion to cancer research worldwide.
“The donation provides us an incredible opportunity,” says Geoffrey Greene, PhD, codirector of the Ludwig Center at the University of Chicago in Illinois. “We're not restricted in how we use it, so we can be creative, innovative, and use as much ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking as we want to.”
Greene and his colleagues plan to use the funds to recruit senior investigators and fund new initiatives to bolster their effort to better understand the genesis, progression, and management of cancer metastasis. Other centers are focused on areas ranging from immunotherapy and stem cell research to cancer prevention and early detection.
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