Cigall Kadoch, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), has been named the inaugural incumbent of Dana-Farber’s Starr Investigatorship.
Endowed investigatorships at Dana-Farber support exceptionally creative and committed scientists and physicians at the mid-points of their careers. The Starr Investigatorship has been made possible thanks to a generous donation from Josh and Anita Bekenstein. Josh is a 32-year rider and Chairman of the Board of Dana-Farber and Anita is a 19-year PMC rider.
The investigatorship is named to honor PMC Founder and Chairman, Billy Starr, and his wife, PMC Director of Stewardship, Meredith Beaton Starr, for their decades of leadership and vision. The PMC has raised more than $1 billion to date in support for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber and the Starr Investigatorship will provide critical funding for Dr. Kadoch’s ongoing research.
The Kadoch Laboratory, established in 2014 when Dr. Kadoch was just 28 years old, studies the structure and function of large molecular “machines” that control the architecture of our genetic material, or DNA. Highly coordinated modulation of DNA architecture is required to direct which sets of genes are turned on and off at a given time to facilitate normal cell function. Failure of this process, known as “gene expression,” is akin to misplayed notes in an orchestra, setting an entire symphony off course, and lies at the heart of many human cancers.
Kadoch is hopeful that the Starr Investigatorship will help translate the cutting-edge, ongoing work in her laboratory to new treatments and cures for cancer. Because of her work, many cancer patients, including several at Dana-Farber, are already being treated with new early-stage protocols aimed to evaluate the potential of the biology Kadoch and her team have uncovered in the clinic.
“The PMC has supported our laboratory research since my recruitment to Dana-Farber to start my career and has enabled us to propel forward the understanding and therapeutic targeting of an entirely new area of biology central to both adult and pediatric cancers,” said Kadoch.
Kadoch has become a leading expert in chromatin and gene regulation. She is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking studies in these areas and has received numerous prestigious awards and research grants to support her academic laboratory at Harvard, including the new Starr Investigatorship endowment. Additionally, over the past several years, Dr. Kadoch has been recognized with the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Forbes magazine 30 Under 30, Popular Science Brilliant 10, the AAAS Wachtel Cancer Research Prize, the AACR Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research, the 2024 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and most recently, the 2024 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, among many others. Kadoch has a longstanding relationship with the PMC and has received research funding from PMC Team Fat Boy / Slim Sisters since 2018.
“It’s an immense honor to have an investigatorship named in recognition of my life’s ambition to help one day eradicate cancer,” said PMC Founder and Chairman Billy Starr. “There is no one more deserving of this endowment than Dr. Cigall Kadoch, who represents the bright future of innovation and impactful progress in cancer research and treatment. Meredith and I look forward to bearing witness to the impact she will undoubtedly make as the inaugural incumbent of the Starr Investigatorship.”
PMC Founder & Chairman Billy Starr and Dr. Cigall Kadoch at PMC 2024 Opening Ceremonies in Sturbridge.
