Damon Runyon News

September 8, 2025

It is with great sadness that we share the news that one of our Board Members, Steve Hayden, passed away on Wednesday, August 27th, 2025, at the age of 78.


A visionary advertising executive, Steve launched his career with Apple’s iconic “1984” Super Bowl ad and went on to become Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy, where he was instrumental in guiding landmark campaigns for brands such as Kodak, Motorola, and Dove.

August 29, 2025

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 16 new Damon Runyon Fellows, brilliant postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. This prestigious Fellowship encourages the nation's most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($300,000 total over four years) to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention.

August 12, 2025

In 2022, the FDA approved the first therapy to target human leukocyte antigen (HLA), which has been implicated in a variety of cancers. (The approved drug, tebentafusp, treats uveal melanoma, an eye cancer.) Last year, another HLA-targeted therapy received FDA approval for the treatment of a sarcoma. There are now a plethora of clinical trials open to patients who are HLA-positive.


July 14, 2025

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named five new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators. The recipients of this prestigious award are outstanding, early-career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research at major research centers under the mentorship of the nation's leading scientists and clinicians.

July 11, 2025

Cancers caused by mutations in the RAS gene family—which include pancreatic, colorectal, lung, skin, and ovarian cancers, among others—have thwarted drug development efforts for decades. The RAS enzymes, KRAS, NRAS, and HRASact as molecular switches, turning “on” and “off” the cell’s ability to grow. When mutated, RAS proteins become stuck “on,” causing cells to proliferate uncontrollably. For 40 years, these mutants were considered “undruggable,” their surface too smooth for therapeutic molecules to bind.


July 9, 2025

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation held its Annual Breakfast at The Metropolitan Club in New York on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. The event raised over $1.1 million to support promising early-career scientists pursuing innovative strategies to prevent, diagnose, and treat all forms of cancer.


June 17, 2025

Enteroendocrine cells, which line the wall of the gut, secrete hormones that regulate glucose levels, food intake, and stomach emptying. Abnormal activity of these cells can cause gastrointestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), as well as intestinal tumors.


June 16, 2025

Three exceptional young clinicians with novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named the 2025 recipients of the Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Training Award. This award, established to help bolster the ranks of this vital cohort of cancer researchers, provides physicians who have completed clinical specialty fellowship training with the opportunity to become leaders in translational and clinical research.

June 6, 2025

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation today announced the launch of the Innovative Ventures in Early-Stage Technologies (InVEST) Program. This unique initiative will automatically provide the first seed check to biotech startups founded by Damon Runyon alumni scientists.

May 29, 2025

Damon Runyon has announced a new  cohort of Quantitative Biology Fellows, five exceptional early-career scientists who are bringing cutting-edge computational tools to bear on some of the most important questions in cancer biology. Whether designing new proteins or mapping DNA structure, their projects aim to shed light on these fundamental questions through large-scale data collection, mathematical modeling, and quantitative analysis.

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