The Point of Aventura recently hosted Dr. Mark Israel, national executive director of the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF). A nationally recognized leader in cancer research and pediatric oncology, Dr. Israel spoke about the genuine promise of Israeli cancer research. The Israel Cancer Research Fund is a vehicle to help Israel change the face of cancer by supporting Israeli scientists in their efforts to develop new life-saving drugs and therapies to combat many types of cancer. “Israel’s researchers are bringing to the cancer fight the same breathtaking innovation, urgency, tireless determination and adroit use of resources that have been the hallmark of Israeli science for the last 70 years. Some of the most promising areas of cancer research in Israel are immunology: the development of new checkpoint inhibitors; targeted therapy, and molecular diagnosis: exploiting opportunities for personalized therapy.”
Since its founding in 1975, ICRF has awarded more 2,500 grants to outstanding cancer researchers whose laboratories are located at all of the leading research institutions, universities and hospitals across Israel. With the 2019-2020 funding year, ICRF’s funding has now reached more than $70 million. The current collaborations with The Cancer Research Institute and the City of Hope further demonstrate the global research community’s respect for the important work of ICRF.
“The big challenge now is to more robustly fund investigators in order to allow them to make an even greater impact on accelerating cancer discovery,” noted Dr. Israel.
