1973
Cancer Center Established The University is named a National Cancer Institutedesignated Cancer Center — one of eight such sites nationwide. John Ultmann, MD, the center’s inaugural director, described the CRF’s support as pivotal: “Because of the track record the University of Chicago had developed in cancer research, stimulated in part through private support provided by the Cancer Research Foundation, we became one of the first federally funded cancer research centers in the nation.” 1970
1986
2004
The CRF makes a $1 million gift to establish the Bernice Goldblatt Fellowship (named for Maurice’s wife), awarded annually to first-year graduate students in cancer biology at UChicago.
The CRF establishes the Bernice Goldblatt Pediatric Pharmacogenetics Program to apply the University’s burgeoning expertise in the genetic basis of cancer drug response to children. The initiative is focused on determining the molecular determinants behind responses to drugs in kids with sarcoma.
First Young Investigator Award The CRF inaugurates the Young Investigator Award (YIA), a series of grants, now worth $75,000, given to promising early-career cancer scientists.
1980
Early 1980s Smitten with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Maurice visits the General Electric factory in Milwaukee where the machines are made and has a scan taken of his brain. He totes around the resulting image to show UChicago physicians, and in 1983 commits $1.3 million to help install the first MRI facility at the medical center.
1984 Maurice Goldblatt dies; Stan Goldblatt becomes chairman of the CRF.
uchospitals.edu/midway
1997
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Stan Goldblatt served as the founding chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees.
1989 With a bequest from Eugene and Dorothy S. Fletcher, the CRF creates an innovation grant, the Fletcher Scholar award, now worth $100,000, for mid-career investigators. “With things changing as rapidly as they are, it’s crucial for senior scientists to be able to switch focus; this enables them to do that,” Stan says.
2007 Alexandra Nikitas, Stan’s daughter, takes the helm at the CRF, marking the succession of the third generation of the Goldblatt family to the foundation. “Zanna is committed and passionate about the research,” says Jane Churpek, MD, a 2012 YIA recipient. ”It’s palpable how excited she is, and it makes you feel like you have a partner in the work — that’s unique and exciting.”
2000
PHOTO BY JEAN LACHAT
Alexandra Nikitas, executive director of the Cancer Research Foundation
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2020
2005
2009-13
The Cancer Research Foundation Program in Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer Prevention and Control is launched with $1.5 million from the CRF. The initiative builds the infrastructure for a broad-based program in GI cancer research and care.
The CRF pioneers a new form of cancer research with the $3 million Interdisciplinary Leukemia Project, bringing together a team of investigators bridging multiple disciplines. It encompasses six interlocking projects across which investigators are encouraged to collaborate to tap synergies and break new ground.
2013
Cancer Breakthrough Leveraging prior CRF-supported research, the Interdisciplinary Leukemia Project solves a long-standing riddle, identifying the genetic mutation behind chromosomal “deficiencies” observed in patients with therapy-related leukemia. Supplementary CRFfunded work already underway is using the finding to move closer to prospective new therapies for this cancer. MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY
SPRING 2014
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