Dear Friends,
When visionary scientist and medical researcher - Dr. Daniel G. Miller -- established the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) thirty years ago, he dreamed about the day when one of Israel's brilliant scientists would win the Nobel Prize - the most prestigious international award in human endeavor.
So you can imagine the exhilaration we at ICRF felt when we received the news very early on the morning of October 6, 2004 that, not one, but two Israeli scientists whose research has been supported by ICRF for more than twenty years were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are the first Israelis ever to win the Nobel Prize in the sciences.
In Israel, the news spread like wildfire. The feeling of elation and pride shared by all Israelis that day was compared to their reactions when the Israeli athlete won the Israel's first Olympic Gold Medal ever in the summer of 2004. These Nobel Prizes affirm that our scientists' research is of the highest international caliber.
Even more exciting and rewarding, Drs. Hershko's and Ciechanover's research and their discovery of a process that lets cells destroy unwanted proteins, called the ubiquitin system, led to a groundbreaking new treatment for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow: Velcade. When the Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of Velcade, the FDA termed it "the first in a new class of anticancer agents."
And that, of course, is ICRF's ultimate goal and dream of our founders: the eradication of cancer, thanks to research by Israeli scientists working in Israel, for the betterment of all mankind.
For example, Velcade, Dr. Hershko explained, "is the first drug specifically targeted against the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Many other new drugs will be discovered which are targeted against specific processes that go wrong in the ubiquitin-proteasome system in different types of cancer, including cancer of the colon, breast, prostate and melanomas."
As Elie Wiesel, another prominent Nobel Laureate, told us at ICRF's Silver Anniversary Tower of Hope Dinner in December 2004 in New York "I have a naïve faith that the answer to cancer will come from Israel, because Israel has given to humanity a concept of celebrating life."
As you look around our website, you will learn about scores of Israeli scientists whose cancer research has been supported by ICRF from the earliest stages, leading to many other groundbreaking advances in the struggle to conquer cancer. These include the cancer drugs Gleevec and Doxil. Donors to ICRF have made these investments in Israeli scientists, and the world is now reaping the rewards. Thousands of lives are saved each year, in nearly every country on the globe, as a result.
Consider making an investment in ICRF's determined drive to transform our founders' dream - and Elie Wiesel's faith -- into a reality.
Wouldn't it be doubly wondrous if we found the "answer to cancer" - and that it came from Israel?
I would be delighted to learn your thoughts on the work of our Israeli scientists described on our website -- and on investing in their research. Please contact me via our website at mail@icrfny.org
Sincerely,
Yashar Hirshaut, M.D.
International President,
Israel Cancer Research Fund
Dr. Yashar Hirshaut is a medical oncologist and associate professor at Weill-Cornell Medical College-New York Hospital in New York; co-author of "Breast Cancer: The Complete Guide," the fourth edition of which was recently published, and editor of the professional journal, "Cancer Investigations."
