American Cancer Society and Charles E. Kaufman Foundation honored

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has named the American Cancer Society and The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, a supporting organization of The Pittsburgh Foundation, as its 2026 Foundation Partners of the Year. The award recognizes foundations that have demonstrated extraordinary generosity in promotion and support of Penn State. Recipients are chosen on the basis of consistency of giving, support to areas of greatest need, and impact across the University.

The American Cancer Society has supported multiple cancer-related initiatives, including research grants and travel and lodging funds for patients of the Penn State Cancer Institute. The Kaufman Foundation has awarded numerous grants to Penn State faculty members engaged in innovative scientific research.

"These foundations have been exceptional partners to Penn State over many years through their generosity,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “The American Cancer Society has supported assistance for cancer patients and progress in the development of cancer treatments. The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation has empowered Penn State researchers to pursue foundational questions in the sciences across disciplines. I am sincerely grateful to both of these visionary organizations, and I am pleased to recognize their generosity through the Foundation Partner of the Year awards.”

The American Cancer Society (ACS), the nation’s leading cancer-fighting nonprofit organization, has built a robust relationship with Penn State over more than 20 years. Through its multifaceted philanthropy, ACS has advanced the University’s research, programs and services across multiple units, including Penn State Health, the College of Medicine and Penn State Cancer Institute.

“Penn State is deeply committed to the fight against cancer,” said Monika Joshi, chief of hematology/oncology and endowed professor in cancer clinical investigation at Penn State College of Medicine. “We’re tackling the disease on many fronts — conducting research, providing clinical care, educating future doctors and nurses, and engaging the communities we serve and our entire University network in fundraising efforts to advance this critical work. Perhaps no organization shares this commitment more strongly than the American Cancer Society. From the most foundational research right through to direct patient care, support from ACS is helping us to improve the experiences and outcomes of patients and their families as they navigate the greatest challenge many of them will ever face. This partnership exemplifies the power of philanthropy in action, and we look forward to many more years of our organizations making a difference together.”

Much of the American Cancer Society’s support for Penn State has focused on two main areas. One is direct support for cancer research across the University. Through scientific research grants, ACS empowers Penn State faculty to advance life-saving treatments and deepen the collective understanding of cancer mechanisms. In total, the American Cancer Society has funded 128 grants to 102 recipients totaling more than $25 million. These grants include highly competitive and prestigious awards such as the ACS Research Scholar Grants, which provide up to four years of funding for projects run by early-career faculty members.

These grants have funded a wide range of projects in topic areas as diverse as the effects of exercise on specific treatment outcomes, the development of online educational tools for breast cancer patients, anti-smoking initiatives, and a host of scientific studies of cancer mechanisms and treatments. Many of the recipients have been based in the College of Medicine and the Cancer Institute, but ACS grants also have funded researchers in other units, such as the College of Health and Human Development, Student Affairs, and Penn State Harrisburg.

Another significant area of ACS support has been funding the Penn State Cancer Institute’s patient assistance program. The Cancer Institute, located on the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center campus in Hershey, serves a vital role by providing high-quality cancer treatment to patients from across central Pennsylvania, including many who live in rural communities. The institute offers one of the best bone marrow transplant programs in the nation, which is currently celebrating its 30th year, as well as cutting-edge treatments such as CAR-T cell therapy.

Compared to most urban-based cancer centers, the Cancer Institute has a disproportionate number of patients who live beyond easy driving distance of its facilities. Many struggle to afford transportation to and/or lodging near the institute for their care, which often involves days or weeks of outpatient treatment. The Cancer Institute operates a patient assistance program for these people and their families, but costs limit its ability to help all eligible patients. Recognizing this need, the American Cancer Society has provided multiple transportation and lodging grants and has become a top donor to the program.

“The American Cancer Society is honored to be named a Foundation Partner of the Year, and we are equally honored to stand side by side with Penn State in the ongoing battle with cancer,” said Nikole Johnston, associate director of cancer center partnerships, American Cancer Society. “Our longstanding collaboration with the University gives us access to innovative researchers and enables us to have a powerful impact on communities across Pennsylvania, especially rural communities that lack access to the kinds of healthcare resources found around cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. This partnership is a testament to what can be accomplished when two institutions unite in pursuit of hope, discovery, and a shared vision of a world without cancer.”

Founded in New York City in 1913, the American Cancer Society seeks to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat and survive cancer. The organization invests hundreds of millions of dollars each year to fight cancer on a global scale, including up to $150 million per year in new research grants.

The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, a supporting organization of The Pittsburgh Foundation, awards grants to scientists at institutions of higher learning in Pennsylvania who are pursuing catalytic research that explores essential questions in biology, physics and chemistry, or that crosses disciplinary boundaries within these fields. The foundation has funded Penn State researchers through two of its primary grant programs, one for new investigators and one for new initiatives.

Since 2014, the foundation has selected at least one Penn State faculty member for funding each year. These researchers represent multiple units across the University, including the Eberly College of Science and the colleges of Engineering, Agricultural Sciences, Earth and Mineral Sciences, and Information Sciences and Technology. The foundation’s grants have supported projects in a range of subject areas as disparate as quantum physics, brain function, electrochemical reactions, nanomaterials, and drug resistance in cancer cells.

Two Penn State faculty members, Atherton Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry Stephen Benkovic and Shapiro Professor of Chemistry Christine Keating, have also served on the foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board, which reviews applications and selects awardees.

Innovation and collaboration are key components in the projects funded by Kaufman Foundation grants. For example, Molly Betz, an assistant professor of disease ecology at Penn State and the recipient of a 2025 New Investigator Grant, is taking an innovative approach to understanding disease. While disease research typically focuses on a pathogen in isolation, Betz is investigating what she calls the “infectome,” a new framework that considers the complex interactions between fungal pathogens and the host’s resident bacteria. The results of this research could lead to new approaches for combating the growing threat of fungal diseases in a variety of ecosystems.

The foundation’s New Initiative Grants in particular call for collaboration among investigators who reflect expertise in distinct disciplines or subdisciplines. A project selected for the 2024 awards, for example, brought together David Radice, associate professor of physics and of astronomy and astrophysics, and Romit Maulik, then assistant professor of information sciences and technology, to study the space around merging black holes. They combined data from sensitive instruments on Earth with advanced simulations and artificial intelligence to help answer fundamental questions about black holes, gravity and Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.

“The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation’s emphasis on innovative and interdisciplinary research aligns with the ethos of Penn State’s research enterprise,” said Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read. “Their grants are often crucial in jump-starting new projects, providing early funding that enables our faculty members to generate results that they can use to secure funds from other sources, such as federal grants. This kind of support empowers our researchers to make important scientific discoveries, which in turn lay the foundation for new technologies, medications and procedures that will ultimately improve people’s lives, here in Pennsylvania and around the world. We are deeply grateful for the foundation’s continued partnership.”

The foundation was established in 2005 by the late Charles E. Kaufman, who had a long career as a chemical engineer and later as an entrepreneur and investor. It supports fundamental scientific research activities in chemistry, biology and physics at Pennsylvania educational institutions, with the goal of promoting “a better and fairer world by supporting those that can make a difference with science.” Since 2013, the Kaufman Foundation has awarded 120 grants totaling $24.4 million, including this year’s grant-making.

“The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation relies on the groundbreaking work of researchers from some of Pennsylvania’s finest colleges and universities to realize Mr. Kaufman’s vision,” said Michael Yonas, vice president for Community Partnerships and Learning at The Pittsburgh Foundation and chair of the Kaufman Foundation. “Penn State’s faculty members consistently stand out among our applicants. They bring the first-rate expertise, creativity and collaborative mindset that leads to new discoveries — discoveries that can in turn inform answers to perplexing scientific questions and solutions to complex societal challenges. We are proud to support the work that these talented researchers are doing, and we are honored to be recognized as a Penn State Foundation Partner of the Year.”

Past recipients of the Foundation Partner of the Year Award include the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation.

Partners like the American Cancer Society and The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.