WIM no. 17 Spring 2020

מכון ויצמן למדע Then in his teens, Mr. Stephenson was deeply affected by her death, and the entire family turned their collective efforts to helping patients with cancer access the solutions they need and want. The Stephensons went on to establish treatment centers and funding mechanisms for clinical trials across the United States. Intent on canvassing the globe for promising research and care solutions for patients, Shawn Stephenson went on to launch Rising Tide Foundation, which funds cancer research with translational promise—studies whose outcomes are likely to result in treatments for patients. Five years ago, Rising Tide made a visionary gift to the Weizmann Institute that has funded a large range of initiatives related to cancer research: from competitive grants to start-up packages for young cancer investigators, to scholarships and fellowships for students and postdoctoral researchers. The funding has helped advance Weizmann investigations into new diagnostic methods, more personalized drugs, novel immunotherapies, and more. The partnership is now entering a second stage of generous funding, over a four- year timeline. “It is a partnership that fits like hand in glove—a mutual interest in advancing research with an eye for improving patient outcomes,” says Mr. Stephenson. “From the beginning, Weizmann has been committed to its focus in understanding how cancer works and how it might be cured or better treated, and with our focus on improving outcomes for the patient and saving lives, this has become a remarkable relationship.” Moreover, he says, the partnership could serve as a successful role model for others interested in funding basic research with a goal toward translational research—a bench-to-bedside pipeline in which discoveries can be translated into drugs and treatments. “In stage two, we hope others will join us on this journey to broaden and deepen this incredible research,” he says. Three decades of care and discovery After Mary Brown Stephenson’s passing, the family established a chain of privately funded, for-profit treatment centers called Cancer Treatment Centers of America, in 1988. Several years later, they started Gateway for Cancer Research, a nonprofit that funds clinical trials in cancer. Both entities, with their respective agendas of care and clinical research, are focused on the same goal: to offer patients more and better options for treatment and cures. Then, in 2006, with an eye toward identifying research investigations outside the US, Shawn Stephenson co-founded Rising Tide, with headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. In addition to Weizmann, it has funded g Shawn Stephenson: inspired to tackle cancer since his teens Spotlight On 28–29 S P R I N G 2 0 2 0 Weizmann MAGAZINE