Karin Grunebaum (née Wassermann) was born in Berlin, Germany on September 2, 1918 – the second daughter of a prominent banker. Her apparently very beautiful and loving mother died from a cancer-related operation when Karin was only 6 years old – which would prove to be a strange precursor to Karin’s own life.
In June 1958, at age 39, Karin Grunebaum, the mother of four children and a loving wife, suddenly passed away from cancer only three months after giving birth to her youngest child. Because her pregnancy had masked the symptoms of cancer, the disease had already metastasized throughout her entire body by the time the cancer was diagnosed a month after giving birth. There was no way to know what type of cancer she had. The primary site of the malignancy remained unknown.
After Karin passed away, her husband, Fritz Grunebaum, established the Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation as a lasting memory to his beloved wife so that other families could avoid such a tragedy by helping to identify and treat all tumors regardless of location.
Because Karin Grunebaum died at age 39 from an unknown primary site malignancy, the overriding objective of the Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation is the eradication of all types of cancer. The Foundation's original Declaration of Trust, written in 1958, mandates that the Foundation's funds be exclusively used for "...aiding research in and study of the cause, treatment and cure of cancer."
The Foundation's Trustees firmly believe that the eradication of cancer will only occur through successful research accomplishments which are followed by successful practical/commercial application. Thus, the Foundation has chosen to invest its funds directly in dedicated cancer researchers in hope of helping them achieve significant accomplishments to eliminate all types of carcinomas and thereby eradicate each and every type of cancer.
Director, Melanoma Surgery Program,
Massachusetts General Hospital;
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School;
Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Katherine and Clifford Goldsmith Professor of Urology, Professor of Oncology, Chairman Emeritus Department of Urology, The Mt. Sinai Medical Center
Karin Grunebaum Professor in Cancer Research, Emeritus,
Boston University School of Medicine
Elsie T. Friedman Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Director, Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology, Chairman Emeritus, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School Dean for Basic Science and Graduate Education and Special Advisor for Global Programs;
Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology;
George R. Minot Professor of Medicine;
Senior Physician, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research and Teaching, Harvard Medical School; Senior Advisor to the Director, National Cancer Institute.
Managing Director, Biotechnology Analyst, Truist Bank
Karin's daughter.
Karin's grand-son
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine
Karin Grunebaum Professor in Cancer Research, Boston University School of Medicine;
Director, Slone Epidemiology Center;
Co-Director, Boston University - Boston Medical Center Cancer Center
Karin's grand-daughter; Director of Communications and Secretary Pro Tem
Karin's son; Foundation Chairperson
Karin's grand-daughter; Foundation Secretary
Karin's daughter. Foundation Treasurer
The Foundation is very proud of the success achieved by our Fellows who have been working and teaching at some of the most prestigious and front-line cancer research facilities in the world, including: Adaptive Biotechnologies, AMGEN Corp, Celgene Corp., City of Hope, Cleveland Clinic, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Duke University Health, George Washington University School of Medicine, Immune Design, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts General Hospital, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Merck & Co., Mersana Therapeutics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYU Langone Medical Center, Oncternal Therapeutics, Seattle Childrens' Hospital, Siteman Cancer Center, SLJ Consulting, Stanford University Cancer Center, Takeda Pharmaceutical, UCLA Medical Center, University of Alabama School of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, University of California: (Davis), (Irvine), (Los Angeles) and (San Francisco), University of Maryland School of Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, University ot Texas Health Science Center, University of Vermont Medical School, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Yale Cancer Center and Zyngenia Corporation, in addition to our sponsored institutions of Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine.
Whether you want to eliminate taxes or benefit from an increased income stream, there is a gift to fit every objective. Please review our Benefits of Giving to charitable organizations to learn how you can give as well as receive.
If you are interested in the institutions where our Fellows teach, you can review their Universities here:
Fellowships are available to junior faculty members at Harvard Medical School and the Boston University School of Medicine. If you are interested in applying to become a Karin Grunebaum Fellow, please use the following links to the institutions.
We believe that the eradication of cancer will only occur through successful research, which is followed by successful practical/commercial applications
Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on what we are doing…
