Honoring the Leaders and Innovators of Immunotherapy at CRI’s 2024 Awards Gala

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) hosted its 2024 Annual Awards Gala on Tuesday, October 15, at Cipriani 25 Broadway in New York City’s Financial District, to celebrate the leaders and innovators that are driving life-saving cancer immunotherapy research. CRI paid tribute to its past while boldly looking toward the future of not only the organization, but the field as whole.

CRI, thank you for believing in me, for supporting me, and for inspiring me in my lab to do the best science we can do.”

Andrea Schietinger, PhD, CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR and 2024 Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology Recipient

CRI presented awards to five leading innovators in the immunotherapy field while CRI-funded scientists dined with staff members, donors, and others. The Checkpoints, a band made up entirely of immunologists, captivated the audience with their performance, while scientific excellence took the spotlight at the gala. The event united CRI’s diverse community to celebrate achievements and raise vital funds for continued research. 

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A Tribute to a Legacy of Impact and Innovation 

Paul Shiverick, co-chairman of the board at CRI, handed out the night’s first award, the 2024 Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research, to Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, PhD, former CRI CEO and director of scientific affairs. The Oliver R. Grace Award is given to leaders who have helped propel cancer research through fundraising, advocacy, or awareness efforts. Dr. O’Donnell-Tormey expressed gratitude for having led CRI while receiving her award. 

“I have been extremely fortunate to have worked with a remarkable group of people that includes my dedicated staff, the board of trustees, the scientific advisory council, our funded scientists, and our donors,” she stated. “It has been so gratifying to see the research that CRI has supported and pioneered to provide the foundation for today’s immunotherapies that have benefited millions of cancer patients.” 

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An ImmunoAdvocate’s Story of Survival 

While the gala honored the achievements of scientific giants, it also served to bolster the cancer immunotherapy research of future CRI-funded scientists. Thanks to the generosity of the audience, CRI raised over $1M during the gala, a portion of which will directly fund the inaugural Dr. Jill O’Donnell-Tormey Postdoctoral Fellowship. This is one of several bold and exciting ventures that CRI will implement to usher in the next era of life-saving cancer immunotherapy treatments, the kind that helped save Isolde Arzt, CRI ImmunoAdvocate and cancer survivor. 

“Years ago, I was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma,” Arzt explained. She traveled from Mexico City to attend and speak at the gala. “I had a seven-inch tumor and five other tumors. I had not heard about immunotherapy until I searched Google and found CRI.” Arzt said that this discovery transformed her life.

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CRI Honors a Rising STAR

Dr. O’Donnell-Tormey presented the Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology to Andrea Schietinger, PhD, principal investigator at the Andrea Schietinger Lab at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR. This award is given to a former CRI postdoctoral fellow that has produced outstanding research in an academic or industry setting that has made a monumental impact on the immunology field. Dr. Schietinger warmly thanked both CRI and her wider scientific network.

“CRI has supported me throughout my career, first as a trainee and a postdoc, and then as faculty and as a principal investigator,” she said. Dr. Schietinger was first funded by CRI as a postdoctoral fellow in 2011. “I would not stand here without the support of outstanding mentors, colleagues, friends, and trainees.”

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And Then There Were Three 

The evening’s final honor, the 2024 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology, is reserved for scientists who have deepened our understanding of the immune system’s response to multiple diseases. It has been given to some of the most gifted scientific minds in the world since 1975. This year’s Coley Award was bestowed on three scientists: 

• Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, is the director of the Diabetes Center at the University of California, San Francisco. 

• Christophe O. Benoist, MD, PhD, is the Morton Grove-Rasmussen Professor of Immunohematology at Harvard Medical School.  

• Diane J. Mathis, PhD, the Morton Grove-Rasmussen Chair of Immunohematology, professor of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School. 

Drs. Anderson, Benoist, and Mathis were awarded by Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, CRI Scientific Advisory Council associate director, and the director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. They expressed gratitude both for CRI’s recognition of their contributions to immunotherapy, and to those gathered in attendance.

“We’re all very honored, but I want to emphasize that like many scientific projects, this one has been a serial team effort through the years with a number of students and postdocs involved. We recognize that this is a celebration of their great efforts, and we thank you on their behalf, as well,” Dr. Mathis said after receiving the award. Dr. Anderson followed, and stated, “The work (the three of us) have done together on the AIRE gene and how it controls immune intolerance is a problem I work on every day in my laboratory. This could not happen without the collaboration and spirit that (Dr. Mathis) just brought up.” Lastly, Dr. Benoist remarked, “There is importance in this research and that’s where we might make groundbreaking discoveries, even if we don’t necessarily see today where they’re going.”

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The Next Chapter for CRI and the Immunotherapy Revolution 

As CEO, Alicia Zhou, PhD, is casting a bold vision for CRI’s future. At the gala, Dr. Zhou shared ambitious plans to keep CRI at the forefront of cancer immunotherapy, ensuring it remains a trusted voice for scientific truth. Andrew Tsai, co-chairman of the board at CRI, praised her ability to translate scientific breakthroughs into better patient outcomes. Dr. Zhou’s leadership promises to honor CRI’s past while driving innovation forward. 

“I am inspired by CRI’s pioneering legacy of funding groundbreaking cancer immunotherapy research that has profoundly transformed how we treat cancer,” Dr. Zhou said before she described a blueprint to ensure CRI’s legacy of excellence expands into the future. “CRI’s innovative strategy—people, biology, data—drives transformative breakthroughs in immunotherapy. As I step in to take the helm of this amazing organization, I am making a personal commitment to ensure that CRI continues to be a place where great science can flourish.” 

Immunotherapy has the power to give hope where there recently was little, and to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible regarding cancer treatment and care. CRI’s 2024 Annual Awards Gala honored the scientific luminaries that have helped improve health outcomes for countless patients around the globe. These awardees, CRI Scientific Advisory Committee members, CRI funded scientists, CRI Board of Trustee members, CRI ImmunoAdvocates, and all present at the gala collectively help propel us closer to a world immune to cancer.