Newswise — The Cancer Research Institute, Inc. (CRI) announced today that its merger with The Irvington Institute for Immunological Research (Irvington Institute) has been successfully filed with the New York Secretary of State's office. The merger is effective as of October 17, 2007.
According to the terms of the merger, CRI has assumed the Irvington Institute's assets and liabilities and is providing the leadership for the strategic activities of the combined organization. Assets from the merger will allow the Cancer Research Institute to grow the number of postdoctoral research fellowships it awards each year by 25 percent. The Cancer Research Institute will rename its Postdoctoral Fellowship Program the Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute.
"The merger is a win for both organizations and for the fellows we support," said CRI Executive Director Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D. "Introducing the Irvington Institute's fellows into the CRI community of scientists and clinicians is a positive development that will enhance their postdoctoral training experience through exposure to new ideas, particularly in the application of immunological discoveries to the treatment and prevention of cancer."
There are also administrative benefits to the merger, O'Donnell-Tormey said. "Duplicate efforts to compete for valuable donor contributions that support similar research programs is an inefficient use of limited resources and increases overhead and other operational expenses," she said. "Uniting our fundraising activities and consolidating administration of the fellowship programs significantly reduces cost, and that translates into more money to support our research programs."
The Cancer Research Institute and the Irvington Institute both share a long and distinguished history of funding basic immunology research at the postdoctoral level. Prior to the merger, the two organizations shared a number of scientific advisors, all of whom will remain on CRI's Scientific Advisory Council, including: Laurie H. Glimcher, M.D., Dan R. Littman, M.D., Ph.D., and Jeffrey V. Ravetch, M.D., Ph.D. Irvington advisors Frederick W. Alt, Ph.D., and Max D. Cooper, M.D., have also joined the CRI council. All will serve as members of CRI's Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee, which reviews and vets fellowship applicants.
Also, five Irvington Institute board members have been elected to the CRI Board of Trustees, including: Sandra Coudert, Margot E. Freedman, Paul J. Sekhri, Lauren Veronis, and Ronald G. Weiner.
"The presence of Irvington Institute scientific advisors and board members in CRI's leadership ensures that donors who supported the Irvington Institute can look to the Cancer Research Institute to fulfill their philanthropic goals to fund the best, most promising postdoctoral fellows in immunology," O'Donnell-Tormey said. "We hope Irvington donors will continue to give, knowing that through CRI their giving will have even more impact."
Irvington Institute conducted a rigorous search process, meeting earlier in 2007 with a number of senior representatives from institutions under consideration as merger partners. 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. In June, both organizations' boards approved the plan of merger.
"Our respective boards realized the significant potential a merger would create for growing postdoctoral fellowship funding for immunologists," O'Donnell-Tormey said. "The immediate and long-term benefits of a unified, strengthened organization will have a durable positive impact on the careers of the fellows we support, on the field of immunology as a whole, and ultimately on the lives of people suffering from cancer and immune-related diseases."
About the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is the world's only non-profit 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 thirty 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
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