Newswise — The Cancer Research Institute, Inc. (CRI) and The Irvington Institute for Immunological Research (Irvington Institute), two leading private immunological research funding organizations headquartered in New York City, have announced today their intention to merge. Under the plan of merger, CRI will assume the Irvington Institute's assets and liabilities and will provide the leadership for the strategic activities of the combined organization. Assets from the merger will allow for the expansion of the two institutes' existing programs of postdoctoral fellowships, growing the number of fellowships CRI awards each year from 24 to 30. CRI will rename its Postdoctoral Fellowship Program the "Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute." Additionally, five Irvington Institute board members and several scientific advisors will join CRI's leadership.
"The Cancer Research Institute is honored to merge with a prestigious organization like the Irvington Institute," said CRI Executive Director Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D. "It is a wonderful opportunity to pool the resources of two distinguished nonprofits whose missions are similar. Both share an immunological focus, an adherence to scientific excellence, and a long history of commitment to the training of the next generation of scientific luminaries through the support of postdoctoral fellowships."
Several members of the CRI Scientific Advisory Council already sit on the Irvington Institute's Scientific Advisory Board, and a number of Irvington-funded fellows have also received funding from CRI.
Irvington Institute conducted a rigorous search process, meeting earlier in 2007 with a number of senior representatives from institutions under consideration as merger partners. CRI's Co-Chairmen of the Board Donald J. Gogel and Andrew M. Paul, Director of the CRI Scientific Advisory Council Lloyd J. Old, M.D., and Dr. O'Donnell-Tormey met with members of the Irvington Institute board to discuss CRI's vision of the partnership. The Irvington Institute Board of Directors determined at its April 2007 meeting that merging with the Cancer Research Institute would be the best strategy for ensuring the preservation of the Irvington Institute's fellowship program and its more than 90-year legacy of advancing immunological research.
Frederick Frank, board chairman of the Irvington Institute, commented, "We are delighted to join with the Cancer Research Institute in the critical work of funding immunological research at the postdoctoral level. Together we can provide more stability and more funding for this vital work. Our board conducted an exhaustive search to determine the very best partner with which to move into the future. In the Cancer Research Institute, we found that partner with the mission, management, and financial resources to assure that the Irvington Institute's legacy and dedication to postdoctoral fellowship funding will be sustained and enhanced for many years to come."
The organizations have filed their petition to merge for approval by the New York State Attorney General's Office.
About the Cancer Research InstituteThe Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is the world's only non-profit, private organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control, and prevention of cancer. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes five Nobel Prize winners and twenty-eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI supports cutting-edge cancer research at top medical centers and universities throughout the world. As the initiator and steward of unprecedented global laboratory and clinical programs like the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative, a partnership with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and the Coordinated Cancer Initiatives, the Cancer Research Institute is ushering in a new era of scientific progress, hastening the discovery of effective cancer vaccines and other immune-based therapies that are providing new hope to cancer patients. http://www.cancerresearch.org
About The Irvington Institute for Immunological ResearchThe Irvington Institute for Immunological Research is a leading private non-profit supporter of outstanding research in immunology. Irvington Institute Postdoctoral Fellows and scientists dedicate their lives to research of diseases that affect all our lives such as cancer, AIDS, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other immune system disorders. These brilliant young scientists from the United States and around the world receive three years of funding to carry out research of their own design under the mentoring of senior scientists at leading universities and medical centers in the U.S. Since 1984, Irvington Institute has provided over $20 million in funding to support these scientists. http://www.irvingtoninstitute.org
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