Keith A. Landesman Memorial Fund

A lifesaving opportunity

In 2008, Dr. Keith A. Landesman, a beloved son, father, and husband lost his life to cancer. Each year his parents, Jane and Richard Landesman of Westport, CT, along with their family and friends, honor his life and legacy by raising funds to support postdoctoral fellows whose groundbreaking research expands our knowledge of cancer and its relationship to the immune system. Since 2013, the Keith Landesman Memorial Fundraiser has generated more than $2 million in donations to support CRI’s cancer immunotherapy research.

Donate Online

This year, you can be a part of this special cause and make a difference in the lives of those affected by cancer by giving to the Keith A. Landesman Memorial Fundraiser.

Donate Online

Donate by Mail

If you wish to mail in a contribution, please make your donation payable to Cancer Research Institute and send to:

Keith A. Landesman Memorial Fundraiser
c/o Cancer Research Institute
29 Broadway, Floor 4
New York, NY 10006-3111

CRI – Dr. Keith Landesman Memorial Fellows

Through the generous support of Jane and Dick Landesman and their entire community of donors, CRI has provided support to eight CRI Dr. Keith Landesman Memorial Fellows. Their work is deepening our understanding of how immunotherapies can be harnessed across many cancer types, including: breast, colorectal, lung, and ovarian cancers, glioblastoma, leukemia, and lymphoma.

Kevin Ng, PhD, The Rockefeller University
Deciphering the contribution of germinal centers to tumor control
Yitong Ma, PhD, Stanford University
Programmable delivery of therapeutic gene editing molecules by engineered immune cells
Xizhi Guo, PhD, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Investigating the role of GATA4 in immune modulation during lung tumorigenesis
Yimeng Zhu, PhD, Columbia University
The role of DNA-PK in DNA repair and ribosomal RNA processing
Chang-Suk Chae, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine
Incessant ER stress responses promote dendritic cell dysfunction in ovarian cancer
Amanda Poisonnier, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University
Relieving immune suppressive pathways in breast cancer to improve outcomes
Jun Ren, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
Reprogramming the tumor microenvironment to improve immunotherapy of glioblastoma
Nicola Gagliani, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine
Targeting Th17 cell plasticity to control colorectal cancer development

Why CRI? Why immunotherapy?

Conquering cancer in our lifetime with immunotherapy will require more research in laboratories and clinics around the world. Your support of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) will help us get there sooner. CRI pioneered the field of immunotherapy, providing support for researchers since 1953. Today, CRI is leading the way in funding innovative research, fostering scientific collaboration, and educating the public about the power of immunotherapy.

Thanks to decades of research, immunotherapy has become a new way to treat cancer by harnessing our own immune system’s innate power to find and eliminate cancer. 29 types of cancer are now treated with immunotherapy with 45% of newly diagnosed patients eligible for immunotherapy. The FDA has just recently approved 13 new immunotherapies. More treatments are in the pipeline for many other types of cancer. Truly, a revolution in cancer treatment has begun.

This year, more than 2 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer, and more than 600,000 will die of cancer. Worldwide, cancer claims the lives of more than 10 million people each year. It’s a global health crisis that will worsen unless we do something now to stop cancer in its tracks. By supporting the Keith A. Landesman Memorial Fundraiser, you can help us create a world immune to cancer.

CRI by the numbers

86% of every dollar raised goes to programs

4-STAR RATING from Charity Navigator

$500 MILLION invested in research

ALL CANCERS can potentially be treated with immunotherapy