Stephenson prize for innovation in pancreatic cancer research launched with $150 million gift to City of Hope

Steve Jobs, Sally Ride, Aretha Franklin, Luciano Pavarotti, and Dizzy Gillespie. All these individuals were considered geniuses in their fields, and all were gone too soon due to pancreatic cancer. As it stands, pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancer types, and my daughter Tessa Stephenson Brand and I intend to contribute to a solution.

We know the cruelness of this disease all too well. My wife Toni succumbed to it after fighting a separate battle with lymphoma. She was my sweetheart since kindergarten, a gifted businesswoman, mentor for Tessa and many others, and filled with compassion and a drive to make the world a better place. We miss her every day, which is why we decided to take action to fight this disease in her honor.

INNOVATION AND INVESTMENT IN PANCREATIC CANCER RESEARCH

As entrepreneurs, Tessa and I know that innovative thinking can solve a multitude of complex problems. The path to success was never found by following a standard line of thinking. We have always directed our leadership teams to question our methods, and if it appears we need to turn another way—especially toward transformation—we must chart a new course and get to it.

That thirst for new approaches has inspired Tessa and me to help change the way medical institutions treat pancreatic cancer. With a five-year survival rate of just 13%, pancreatic cancer needs a different approach. Currently, pancreatic cancer is typically diagnosed long after it has spread and is exceptionally difficult to treat. Research on the disease is often isolated among competing institutions, as well as historically understudied and underfunded. We must invest in research, collaborate more, treat it sooner, and develop better methods of countering its impact. The lifesaving effect of such actions can be  immense.

For these reasons, we are making a $150 million gift to the nationally renowned cancer research and treatment institution City of Hope^® that will launch a bold international scientific awards program. The Stephenson Prize is a first-of-its-kind initiative that will award $1 million annually to a leading scientist or scientific team making the most promising contributions to pancreatic cancer research. It will be one of the largest privately funded scientific awards offered annually to individual investigators.

Hopefully this will be a “multiplier” award, by stimulating researchers to truly ramp up work on this disease. We know that, despite all the challenges, there is incredible work going on today—in immunology and even a potential pancreatic cancer vaccine—and there is promise for even more. We also believe that the people who will lead us to better pancreatic cancer detection and treatments are alive today. Those individuals are out there, and our partnering organization, City of Hope, agrees with us, which is why the prize will be awarded to the best research anywhere in the world, regardless of academic institution. 

Our thinking is that the next generation of medical research must change so that we can solve the most complex issues of our time. Right now, research is siloed, and it is slow, and that’s not good enough for patients and families dealing with this cancer. Incremental progress of even 10% on that 13% survival rate is heartbreaking. We need to increase the odds to give everyone the hope they need. We must approach this differently, breaking down these silos, pushing for a cure and funding the people who are on the absolute best path, as determined by some of the greatest research peers of our time.

We have additional plans beyond this prize. Our family’s $150 million gift will also establish a fellowship program that will award grants to pancreatic cancer researchers. We will host an annual symposium to bring the best minds together and support much-needed collaboration. We will fund novel immunotherapies and further investment in City of Hope’s Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center. And we will develop a pancreatic biorepository at City of Hope to enhance genomic-informed treatments and aid in early disease detection. It will also deepen understanding of cancer biology and immune response, as well as contribute to developing more effective therapies.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP COULD HELP DEFEAT PANCREATICE AND OTHER CANCERS

It is clear entrepreneurs can do more than support innovation in business. We can also make investments that inspire other fields—such as medicine—to think beyond the current day and reach for what previously was deemed impossible. I know we are not alone in thinking this way. We think that helping to end cancer is everyone’s responsibility.

Too many people have died from this disease, including many of our loved ones and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to our world. We are making this investment because we wholeheartedly believe it is possible that we are living in an era that defeats pancreatic cancer. This would be the greatest of legacies and an entrepreneurial investment beyond compare.

A. Emmet Stephenson Jr. is founder and senior partner of private equity firm Stephenson Ventures and a board member for the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope.