The seed for the Israel Cancer Research Fund was planted in 1969 when Dr. Daniel G. Miller and his wife, Helene, took a life-changing trip to Israel.
On this first trip, they were amazed by what they experienced, and, as head of the lymphoma clinic at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Miller was deeply inspired by the caliber of Israel’s scientific community. He wanted to understand how he could help nurture the cutting-edge cancer research taking place at institutions across Israel, and soon identified the need for more opportunities for young scientists. “You go to young people for ideas—that’s the future,” he concluded, and from there he began to recruit a committed group of American and Canadian physicians, scientists and philanthropists who shared in his recognition of the extraordinary accomplishments and unique global impact of science in Israel. Their ultimate goal: to one day end the suffering caused by cancer.
The Israel Cancer Research Fund was formally founded in 1975 with a mission to support the best and brightest scientists conducting groundbreaking cancer research at all of Israel’s leading institutions. Since then, ICRF has funded nearly 50 years of discovery, and Dr. Miller’s vision has enabled Israel to become a world leader in cancer research.
Today, ICRF has surpassed $87 million in funding for over 2,700 grants to hundreds of scientists at world-class Israeli institutions. In the current funding year, ICRF is supporting 83 cancer research grants, making it the largest nongovernmental funder of cancer research in Israel.
Dr. Miller’s legacy is an organization that has been at the forefront of major breakthroughs in cancer research that are extending and saving the lives of cancer patients today the world over. ICRF-funded scientists have been instrumental in the development of groundbreaking FDA-approved drugs Gleevec®, Doxil® and Velcade® and include the first two Israeli Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry. ICRF-funded research continues to be at the forefront of cancer discoveries in nano-medicine, immunotherapy, stem cell research and targeted therapies.
In addition to founding ICRF and his long affiliation with Sloan-Kettering, Dr. Miller was president emeritus and director of the Strang Cancer Prevention Center and a professor of medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He was also founder of the Israel Cancer Association USA and founding president of the American Society of Preventive Oncology.
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