30 Years of Accomplishments
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The American-Italian Cancer Foundation—originally, the American-Italian Foundation for Cancer Research—was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in New York in 1980 by charter members Umberto Veronesi, MD; Countess Consuelo Crespi; Deeda Blair; Gianni Bonadonna, MD; and Nobel Prize winner Renato Dulbecco, MD.
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Alessandro di Montezemolo was named the first chairman in 1981, and the first Benefit Gala was held at Christie’s. The Pierre Hotel was the venue for many years after this; The Racquet & Tennis Club has been the venue for the past three years. Funds raised through the Benefit are a major source of program revenue.
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AICF was instrumental in the founding of the European School of Oncology in 1982 as a Trustee, together with the European School of Oncology Foundation, Switzerland, and the Fondazione per la Formazione Oncologia in Milan. Please see www.eso.it for additional information.
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The Scientific Advisory Board, comprised of leading international cancer researchers and clinicians in the United States and Italy, was established in 1982. In 2004, the group formed an Executive Committee that was chaired by Vincent T. DeVita, Jr., MD, Amy & Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine, Yale Comprehensive Cancer for two terms. Paul A. Marks, MD, President Emeritus, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, Director, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and Institute for Cancer Genetics, Columbia University, now serve as SAB Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively. Members of the SAB provide strategic program guidance to the Board of Directors, make recommendations regarding the Prize for Scientific Excellence in Medicine nominees, review fellowship applications, and offer ongoing input as needed.
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The Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship Program was inaugurated in 1983. To date, 209 AICF Fellows have received 367 awards that have launched their research careers. AICF Fellowships have been completed at 75 host institutions in the United States and Italy, and 158 scientists have served as mentors. AICF Fellows collaborate with one another in their laboratories, and many continue these collaborations as they pursue research projects independently. To date, six AICF Fellowship alumni have served as mentors of new AICF Fellows.
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In 1984, the Barbara Bohen Pfeifer Award for Scientific Achievement in Cancer Research was established, with the first award going to Robert C. Gallo, MD, for his study of human T-cell leukemia virus. The award was later known as the Award for Scientific Excellence in Medicine, and in 2003 it became the Prize for Scientific Excellence in Medicine. The Prize now provides a monetary award of $100,000, or $50,000 each to two world-class scientists.
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The European School of Oncology and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center signed a Bilateral Agreement in 1991, with the support of AICF.
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AICF funded a landmark study on Tamoxifen in 1992 that involved 40,000 women in the United States, Italy, and Britain over five years. The Italian Tamoxifen study in 1996 enrolled 4,600 women at 57 women’s health centers throughout Italy; it was one of three studies approved by the FDA to assess if Tamoxifen could prevent breast cancer in healthy women.
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The European Institute of Oncology was established in Milan by Professor Veronesi in 1994. Please see www.ieo.it for additional information.
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From 1984 through 2008, AICF sponsored numerous international meetings, conferences, seminars, roundtables, symposiums, workshops, master classes, summits, joint studies, and database or web-based educational projects in Italy, Belgium, France, Portugal, Switzerland and the United States, as well as traveling fellowships so that health professionals from developing countries could attend ESO or MSKCC seminars and courses.
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A no-cost mobile mammography program was implemented in 1987, and 400 women in Brooklyn and Queens were screened for breast cancer. Today, the breast cancer screening, outreach, and education program serves over 5,000 economically disadvantaged and medically underserved women in the five boroughs of New York City.
- In June 2008, the Board of Directors approved the implementation of a Pancreatic Cancer Research Initiative. Giulio F. Draetta, MD, PhD and Mark Bloomston, MD received AICF’s first pancreatic cancer research grants in 2009-10 for advanced research projects that are being performed in conjunction with collaborators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Belfer Institute, and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in the United States, and the San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Scientific Institute and the University of Verona in Italy. Both grants were renewed for 2010-11.
- AICF received a magnificent gift in 2010-11 from the estate of Catherine di Montezemolo that has been used to establish the Alessandro & Catherine di Montezemolo Fellowship Endowment Fund. Income from the Fund will provide partial support each year for the AICF Fellowship applicant who receives the highest scores from the Scientific Advisory Board.
- In 2011, one of AICF’s large mobile clinics utilized in the mobile, no-cost Breast Cancer Screening Program received a major renovation to accommodate new state-of-the-art, digital mammography equipment manufactured by General Electric. The digital upgrade was made possible, in part, with grant funding provided by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.
- AICF Fellowship alumnus Pier Giuseppe Pelicci, MD, PhD discussed the importance of his fellowship experience in defining his future career at the Benefit Dinner & Auctions on Monday evening, November 14, 2011. Please click here to read his remarks.
