Davis Gift Drives Immunotherapy at WCM

With the goal of advancing a powerful cancer treatment strategy that uses immune cells to fight the disease, benefactors Ellen and Gary Davis have generously made a $2 million gift to Weill Cornell Medicine to drive ongoing research in immunotherapy.

This significant, foundational gift will launch the Ellen and Gary Davis Immune Monitoring Core, a critical research infrastructure that will serve as a repository for patient tumor samples, genomic sequencing and bioinformatics. The core will analyze and provide centralized, sensitive and quantitative patient data that investigators can use to advance their research into immunotherapy. The gift lays the cornerstone for further expansion in immunotherapy research and strengthens WCM’s position as a leader in the development of powerful new weapons in the fight against cancer. A portion of the gift will fund research collaborations between investigators at WCM, Cornell University, and Cornell Tech, strengthening the critical bridges between New York and Ithaca. "We are extremely grateful to Ellen and Gary, whose strategic gift establishes an important foundation for immunotherapy research that is befitting of the treatment’s promise," said Jessica Bibliowicz, chairman of the WCM Board of Overseers. "Ellen and Gary’s generous support will augment our growing immunotherapy program, bolster our rich research communities at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University, and bring us closer to eliminating cancer."

The Davises have a legacy of philanthropy at Cornell, including endowing the Gary S. Davis Professorship of Government, the Gary and Ellen Davis Curator of Photography at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, and establishing a joint fellowship at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and WCM to advance research into epilepsy. "Immunotherapy represents one of the most exciting avenues of investigation for fighting cancer," said WCM overseer Ellen Davis and Cornell University trustee and alumnus Gary Davis. "We are proud to be able to make this important investment, empowering Weill Cornell Medicine and its unparalleled oncology program, led by Dr. Lewis Cantley, as well as the distinguished investigators at Cornell in Ithaca and engineers at Cornell Tech, to realize the promise of immunotherapy."

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