STONY BROOK, NY, April 20, 2017 -- In
recognition of his dedication to the fight against
cancer, Joseph R. Biden Jr., 47th Vice President of the
United States of America, was honored at Stony Brook
University’s annual charity Gala at Chelsea Piers in
Manhattan.
Hosted by the Stony Brook Foundation, the Gala generates
funds for student financial aid and a select academic
area of excellence. This
year, the University raised $6,946,000 in gifts and
pledges including $2,051,000 for scholarships and
$4,895,000 to support the Stony Brook University Cancer
Center. Since 2000, the event has raised more than $50
million.
As Vice President, Joe Biden led the White House “Cancer
Moonshot” with the mission to double the rate of
progress in preventing the disease that leads to more
than 8 million deaths worldwide every year. The
intention, said Biden in his remarks, was to infuse the
cancer research culture with “the urgency of now.”
Under his leadership, the Cancer Moonshot Task Force
catalyzed novel, innovative and impactful partnerships
among 20 government agencies, departments and White
House offices as well as over 70 private sector
collaborations. Biden also helped lead the effort to
pass the 21st Century Cures Act, which provides $1.8
billion over seven years for the Cancer Moonshot
scientific priorities.
“The Moonshot is a program,” said Biden that “has become
a movement, giving cancer patients and the people
impacted by their illness new hope. And what cancer
patients want more than ever is hope. But we
can only hope to make sustainable progress if we’re
preparing the next generation of cancer scientists and
doctors.”
“At Stony Brook, we share Joe Biden’s determination,
sense of urgency and his
fundamental confidence in our ability to make a
difference in the fight against cancer,” Stony Brook
President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. said to the
record-breaking 870 guests in attendance. “The Stony
Brook Cancer Center brings together the brightest minds,
enhancing purposeful collaboration and creating
strategic partnerships to share information and
accelerate research. Our researchers are receiving
worldwide attention for a pioneering study of the
genesis and behavior of cancer cells at the molecular
level, with the goal of one day helping to detect, treat
and eventually eliminate the disease for good.”
Proceeds from the Stars of Stony Brook Gala also
generate financial assistance for many of Stony Brook’s
most talented students. In his remarks, Foundation Chair
and IMAX President Richard Gelfond ‘76 said Stony Brook
offers talented, deserving students a pathway to a world
they might never have been part of. In fact, just this
year a study led by the Stanford Institute for
Economic Policy Research ranked
Stony Brook among the top 10 public and private
institutions in the US as an engine of income mobility.
“Other universities may make similar claims about social
mobility,” said Foundation Chair and IMAX President
Richard Gelfond ’76, “but few if any are among the most
select institutions with an incredibly diverse student
body with a focus on STEM, and can do so while managing
a national energy laboratory and delivering excellent
healthcare at the only tertiary care facility in the
county. That’s a rare combination in American higher
education.”
Through continual research and discovery, Stony Brook
University Cancer Center is on the forefront of cancer
care. In the new Kavita and Lalit Bahl Center for
Metabolomics and Imaging, for instance, Dr. Yusuf Hannun
and Dr. Lina Obeid are receiving international
recognition for their pioneering studies in lipid
metabolism and cancer. Their work is changing what is
known about the role lipid metabolism plays in cancer
and brings us closer than ever before to understanding
how to prevent and treat it.
The Stony Brook Cancer Center will relocate next year to
the new 254,000 square-foot Medical and Research
Translation facility (MART), designed to enable
scientists and physicians to work side by side to
advance cancer research and imaging diagnostics.
Mr. Biden joins a distinguished roster of scholars,
politicians, celebrities and luminaries who have been
honored by the Gala for their outstanding and relentless
commitment to society, such as Nobel laureate C.N. Yang;
IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond; actors Ed Harris, Jane Fonda,
Julie Andrews and Alan Alda, Jim Simons and Marilyn
Simons (‘74, ‘84); and world-renowned conservationists
Patricia Wright and Richard Leakey.
Dollars raised at the Gala count toward the $600 million
Campaign for Stony Brook. For more on the campaign,
visit stonybrook.edu/campaign.