Winship Lymphoma Program Receives Challenge Grant

A purposeful grant announced in 2024 is providing support for Winship Cancer Institute which received an Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation (AMBFF) Challenge Grant to assist an important collaboration between cancer researchers at Winship and in Israel.

Dr. Jonathon Cohen, co-director of Winship’s Lymphoma Program and professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University and leader of the collaboration, commented, “This grant by AMBFF matches 1:1 any funds that we raise in support of this program. We are using these funds to support an upcoming trip of eight Winship faculty members to visit three sites in Israel to discuss research and clinical collaborations. Additionally, the funds are being used to support training of Israeli physicians at Winship so that they can bring these skills back to Israel and improve care there. This type of initiative would not be feasible without support of these donations and the Blank Foundation.”

This innovative collaboration started as a series of emails with Dr. Cohen and Dr. Daniel Goldstein, a former Winship hematology/oncology fellow who is now an oncologist at Beilinson Hospital in Petakh Tikvah. Dr. Cohen explained, “Given the fantastic work being done in Israel, I envisioned a two-way international collaboration where researchers from both Atlanta and Israel could share expertise and best practices. In addition, given the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s partnership with the Yokneam-Megiddo region in northern Israel, I reached out to Emek Medical Center in nearby Afula. Both centers were eager to collaborate with us and our first trip in summer 2023 was a highly successful one. Since then, we have collaborated with clinical tumor boards, clinical and lab-based research activities, and Winship is currently hosting a fellow from Emek for training in leukemia and cellular therapies.”

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This effort initially began in the summer of 2023, when Cohen went with three additional physicians, focused on hematologic cancers including lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma. Since then, interest on both sides of the collaboration has increased, and while they couldn’t return last year due to the war, they now have eight Winship faculty members signed up, ranging in expertise from hematology to dermatologic oncology, and solid tumor oncology.

Dr. Jonathon Cohen (left), co-director of Winship’s lymphoma program and leader of the collaboration between Winship and Israeli sites, meets with Dr. Tamer Omari.

Cohen said, “I am also thrilled that we have both clinical researchers and lab-based researchers attending. For 2025, we have expanded the collaboration to now include a team at Ben Gurion University and Soroka Medical Center which will only serve to enhance the impact of the work we are doing. In light of all of the challenges faced by Israeli researchers in the past 18 months, it is even more important now to strengthen this bond and leverage the expertise of both sites to improve cancer care worldwide.”

He continued, “This is a critical time in cancer research.  Many sources of funding are being limited and/or cut off from the NIH and other foundations, and this has had significant impacts on our ability to continue to move initiatives like this forward. The support from the Blank Foundation and our donors can maintain this pipeline of impactful work. In my experience in cancer research, these types of collaborations are always more fruitful and more impactful than anything we can do at one center and the likelihood of significant advances in cancer care in both countries because of this work is very high.”

Regarding Winship and Israel’s researchers working together, Dr. Cohen shared how this is a very natural collaboration in many ways. Much of the cellular therapy work that Winship is engaged in at present is based on technology that initiated in Israel. He added, “Israeli researchers are also at the forefront of investigating newer immunotherapies that have a high likelihood of impacting cancer care in the coming years. Winship’s expertise in cellular and immunotherapy and our experience in conducting large, highly impactful clinical trials across a variety of diseases pair nicely with much of the work being done there. Personally, I have met several Israeli colleagues who share my interest in investigating new therapies and improving outcomes for patients with lymphoma, and I look forward to building upon work that has been initiated since our first visit.”

This type of initiative would not be feasible without support of these donations and the Blank Foundation.

Regarding this collaboration’s critical impact, it has become increasingly clear that cancer research requires a team approach if you are going to move the needle in a meaningful way, and anytime you can collaborate with smart, highly motivated colleagues, it benefits everyone. They are hoping that as this collaboration grows, there will be opportunities to compete for research grants, complete clinical trials of new therapies, and exchange trainees to make the most of the expertise available at both sites.

According to Cohen, Winship has also been working for some time to arrange to have an Israeli physician with interest in lymphoma and cell therapy spend time there. Winship welcomed the first Israeli fellow, Dr. Tamer Omari, this spring, and look forward to ongoing opportunities to host learners here in Atlanta.

Cohen added, “I view this as the beginning stages of a long-term collaboration that will benefit patients as well as researchers, trainees, and anyone impacted by cancer. Additionally, this is a fantastic way to highlight the major contributions that Israeli physicians and researchers can make on the care of patients with cancer. I feel this is particularly important in the current environment and I am steadfastly committed to ensuring that our colleagues at both sites are supported and can leverage their abilities and expertise to pursue critical work.”

With important matching grants like this one from the AMBFF, sharing research could impact the future of cancer and blood disorders. This meaningful alliance of experts is the key to ongoing innovation in the management of blood cancers and all cancers. Winship’s team of researchers here and in Israel are grateful and proud of this progress and aligned support. Dr. Cohen praises Israeli researchers who are at the forefront of technological advances and believe this vital research working together will help impact advancements in the treatment of cancer.

For more information on how you may make a gift to support this work, please contact Jennifer Morton in Winship Cancer Institute’s development office at 404-310-8942 or jennifer.morton@emory.edu.