AACR Donors and Partners
Honoring the Legacy of Barbara Creighton
Jim Creighton’s decision to fund Scholar-in-Training Awards presented at the American Association for Cancer Research® (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 was an easy one. His wife, Barbara, died from ocular melanoma, a type of eye cancer, in March 2023. Creighton remembers her as gentle, kindhearted, and gregarious. She would be happy to know that young scholars had the opportunity to learn in her name, he said. With the awards, four students received funds so they could attend the meeting, providing them with an opportunity to expand their horizons and connect with others.
Barbara was always interested in the lives and hopes of the medical professionals who treated her, Creighton said. “Our personalities were such that we were asking the doctors as much about them and their lives as they were trying to understand us,” he said of the medical appointments for his wife that he never missed. “And she’s going to find out what college you went to and what your major was. And what high school you went to.” She never lost the desire to bring people together after her diagnosis on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2016, at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.
That spring she didn’t play softball, a game she had played since the age of 6. But during treatment, she quickly returned to playing with a team of friends who treated her like nothing had changed. When she lamented that she might not be able to hit an inside pitch because of a blind spot, a teammate didn’t hesitate to respond, “You can never hit the inside pitch anyhow.” Given two to three years to live, she spread happiness and joy. During infusions, she provided help and guidance to other patients. “The nurses and the doctors would say, ‘Could you go talk to Sally? Could you go talk to John?’ and she would. And then they had their own little network,” said Creighton, who became Barbara’s caregiver and driver as she continued treatments. In year five, she entered a dose escalation trial for a medicine at Jefferson Health’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia. Barbara eventually received the highest treatment dose of the medicine that a trial participant at Jefferson had ever tried. Although the treatment was unsuccessful, she committed herself to making progress for future patients.
Barbara died seven years after her diagnosis—four years longer than anticipated. Jim and Barbara spent more than 40 years together. He is happy to know that his gift for Scholars-in-Training will help ensure that Barbara’s legacy will continue. “I know Barbara is totally on board with this because it could help a kid understand and learn and be exposed to somebody and then help come up with a treatment to solve, not just ocular melanoma, [but] anything,” he said. “Because she and I know what we went through.”
High School Students Advocate for Cancer Research
This winter, students at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, N.J., supported the American Association for Cancer Research® (AACR) as part of their Freshman Seminar. Grouped based on interests, the students were asked to research a cause important to them. Many quickly realized just how much cancer has affected their lives. Using Charity Navigator to find a reliable organization that works on their issue, groups then made pitches for why their charity deserved to receive class donations. Multiple groups focused on the AACR, with several classes selecting the cancer research organization to receive donations.
The assignment is always “the turning point” for first-year students, said Joe Keily, who co-teaches a segment of the high school’s new class with Jennifer Lederman. Students make stronger connections with one another, their class, and their teachers through the assignment. “They opened up, sometimes about quite personal things, to their classmates, overcame the fear of public speaking, and learned how to be advocates and find reliable charities doing good work,” Keily said.
For students like Michael Echeverri, advocating for cancer research and turning ideas into action was a powerful thing. “My charity being selected made me feel like I actually made a difference,” he said. “I believe that everyone, not just my classmates, needs to learn about cancer and your charity,” he said of the AACR.
Choosing and advocating for the AACR was an easy decision for Echeverri’s classmate Doyle Flatt. “I saw how much your charity cared,” he said.
The final component of the project was for each student to write a letter to the charity they researched. In the letters, the students shared all the ways cancer has touched their lives. “It has affected my family time and time again,” Alexander Bodnar wrote. In his letter, Ben Shamosh added, “I have felt for a while I needed to somehow help the fight against cancer. I appreciate the AACR for all it has done and am happy to continue the fight.”
I appreciate the AACR for all it has done and am happy to continue the fight.”
Ben Shamosh
High school student
SITC Runs for Research
For the second year in a row, a team representing the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) participated in the AACR Runners for Research 5K Run/Walk during the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 in San Diego, raising $1,900 for cancer research. SITC has been the world’s leading member-driven organization specifically dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes through cancer immunotherapy since its founding in 1984.
Immunology researcher Jennifer Guerriero, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, is a member of both the AACR and SITC. She says much of her research journey is linked to both SITC and the AACR, from her first AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., to serving on the AACR Cancer Immunology Working Group and being active in AACR-Women in Cancer Research. At SITC, she served as chair and co-chair of the Early-Career Scientific Committee before being elected to the board in 2021.
SITC formed a team in 2023 for the Annual Meeting 5K in Orlando, Florida. The team raised $900 and shared in the camaraderie of running on the humid but sunlit Florida morning. Dr. Guerriero, always looking to fill her days at the AACR Annual Meeting, continued running after the 5K as well. “I went right from the finish line to a session with my running gear and race bib on,” she said.
In the early days of immunotherapy research, there was a lot of skepticism about whether the new treatment would work. “There was a time when very few believed in this therapy,” said Dr. Guerriero. Now, the SITC Annual Meeting attracts some 7,000 attendees, with many AACR leaders on the SITC board and executive committee. Thanks in part to SITC and partner institutions like the AACR, immunotherapy has become a remarkable treatment option for cancer patients. Dr. Guerriero is thrilled that the AACR Annual Meeting held so many sessions on myeloid cells and macrophages, which are her research interests.
Committed to the Community
Envestnet, a financial technology corporation based in Berwyn, Pa., is dedicated to promoting financial wellness and compassionate initiatives. The company focuses on education, financial literacy, and supporting those in need in the communities they serve.
In 2023, Envestnet lost two employees to cancer. Following the losses, employees felt a responsibility to contribute to making progress against cancer. In honor of their departed colleagues and recognizing the broader community affected by cancer, they donated $50,000 to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
“After a challenging year marked by the loss of colleagues, we sought to make a contribution to cancer research,” said Carter Wiesman, director of HR Audit and Compliance for Envestnet. Their choice to support the AACR was driven by the “meticulous approach to directing donations to scientists actively pursuing breakthroughs in cancer research” and Envestnet’s proximity to AACR headquarters in Philadelphia, he said.
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