$75M Gift to Establish Center for Blood Cancers at NYU Langone Health Center

Owing to an anonymous $75 million gift, New York University (NYU) Langone Health and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center will establish a Center for Blood Cancers.

The center is expected to house a new, state-of-the-art program for multiple myeloma, complementing its current blood malignancy programs. According to a press release, the new center will markedly enhance blood cancer research, treatment, and scientist recruitment at Perlmutter.

“We are honored to receive such a generous gift that will support our world-renowned Perlmutter Cancer Center and launch significant new centers focused on blood cancers to help patients achieve better outcomes and to advance important new research,” said Robert I. Grossman, MD, the Saul J. Farmer dean of the NYU School of Medicine, and chief executive officer of NYU Langone Health.

Not only is the new center expected to strengthen multiple myeloma investigations and care, it also likely will improve clinical trial recruitment and efforts to find markers for disparate cancer types that might lead to earlier diagnoses and treatments. 

It is also expected to result in better patient services and academic resources for NYU School of Medicine students and faculty, including more lab space and patient exam rooms.

About 10 percent of all new cancers in the United States each year are blood cancers, according to the National Foundation for Cancer Research. One of the most common, multiple myeloma, is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. Such cells help to battle infections by producing antibodies that recognize and attack germs. Multiple myeloma causes cancer cells to accumulate in bone marrow, where they crowd out healthy blood cells.

NYU Langone physicians have conducted clinical trials to help establish several multiple myeloma treatments currently in use, including immune therapies and targeted medications, a Perlmutter Cancer Center webpage states. NYU Langone scientists have also reportedly developed some of the sophisticated diagnostic and genetic tests in wide use.

“There is a pressing need for more research in the areas of early diagnosis and prevention of blood cancers,” said Benjamin Neel, MD, PhD, director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center. 

“As a nationally recognized cancer center, we are proud to continue to be on the leading edge of research and clinical care in this area. This gift will help us as we attract new talent, leaders and added expertise to further our mission to prevent and treat these deadly diseases.”