Article Category: Patient & Donor Stories

Donor provides gift for blood cancer research

Anita Palmer Corbin learned to meet challenges head-on when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 10 in 1964. Her mother first noticed the symptoms, and after blood tests confirmed a problem, she was admitted to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, located one hour north of her home in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. No visitors were allowed except immediate family members, and since both of her parents worked, she was left with few visitors for nearly two weeks while doctors brought her diabetes under control.

From the time of her diagnosis, Anita, who died in 2023, was told she had a disability that would prevent her from living a full life. On the contrary, she never allowed the disease to stand in her way. She enjoyed a more than 20-year career at St. Louis-based Ralston Purina Co., which became Nestlé Purina PetCare after merging with Nestlé in 2011, and became the company’s youngest and first female officer. In her retirement, Anita traveled the world, riding elephants in Thailand, walking with lions in South Africa, and snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Anita wanted to create a permanent legacy to honor her medical journey and the experiences of family members who faced serious illnesses. Now, an $11 million gift from her trust, which is expected to grow in the coming years, is helping advance critical work at Washington University School of Medicine. The gift established three endowed funds to drive research and develop new treatments for Type 1 diabetes, leukemia, and lymphoma. The funds augment three corresponding spendable funds created by Corbin in 2022.

Anita hoped to inspire all individuals battling a disease to live boldly, says her husband, Daniel Corbin. “She refused to let her diagnosis define her life and didn’t accept it as a limitation to what she could accomplish,” he says. “Every time she talked with other people facing health challenges, she would tell them, ‘You can do anything you want.’ She encouraged them to take ownership of their disease so it didn’t own them. She left a lasting impression on countless lives.”

Innovative treatments for blood cancers

Anita’s gift is also fueling research at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine. The gift established two endowed funds at the cancer center — $7 million for leukemia research and $1.25 million for lymphoma research.

The Trevor Stuart Palmer Memorial Leukemia Endowed Fund pays tribute to Anita’s nephew, who died from the disease shortly after his diagnosis at age 26. She believed if Trevor had received care at a world-class cancer center like Siteman, he would have been accurately diagnosed earlier and obtained lifesaving treatment.

Payout from the fund will further efforts that are part of the School of Medicine’s Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in leukemia, a prestigious grant from the National Cancer Institute. The medical school’s SPORE in leukemia is one of only two such programs in the nation.

The leukemia fund currently supports work with patients who have acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome with mutations in an important gene called TP53. Outcomes for patients with these types of blood cancers are typically poor, with survival rates of less than a year. Researchers in the lab of Dan Link, MD, professor of medicine and principal investigator for WashU Medicine’s leukemia SPORE, have identified a promising new drug combination that selectively kills leukemia cells with TP53 mutations. A clinical trial based on their observations is in development.

The Daniel E. Corbin Lymphoma Research Endowed Fund created by Anita’s gift recognizes the many years of outstanding care Daniel received at Siteman. “When I initially visited another facility, the providers treated many different types of cancer in one room,” he says. “Siteman was a godsend because my entire care team specialized in lymphoma, and I felt reassured that each person was an expert who could solve any problem that might come up.”

This year, the fund’s resources are bolstering efforts led by John DiPersio, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, to improve an immunotherapy technique called CAR-T cell therapy for individuals with a fast-growing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Investigators are testing different combinations of cytokines, proteins that help activate the immune system, to enhance the ability of CAR-T cells to kill lymphoma cells.



“Siteman is at the forefront of advancing groundbreaking discoveries that revolutionize the way we understand and treat blood cancers,” says cancer center director Timothy Eberlein, MD, who also serves as the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and senior associate dean for cancer programs at WashU Medicine and BJC HealthCare. “It is through partnerships with forward-thinking philanthropists like Anita that visionary ideas come to life. Investments in our research have the power to save lives and set new standards of care worldwide.”

A remarkable life

a portrait of a wife and husband over a bridge with a river behind them
Anita Palmer Corbin shared an adventurous spirit with her husband, Dan Corbin. The couple’s many travels included a visit to southern England. (Courtesy photo)

Anita grew up the youngest of four children and the only daughter. As a child, she ran home from school to finish her homework and chores so she had time to play outside. Daniel says her motto was always work first, play second.

Though her family thought it would be difficult for her to go to college, Anita earned her undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and received a master’s degree in business administration with a focus on finance from Saint Louis University.

Anita began her career with Ernst and Young LLP and then joined Ralston Purina in 1979 as a senior accountant. She held several positions of increasing responsibility and was named corporate vice president and controller of the company in 1994.

She met Daniel at Ralston Purina, though they did not begin dating until years later after their first marriages had ended. Together, the couple enjoyed logging miles on their motorcycles. Anita was also an avid bicyclist, covering ground from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Florida beaches. Still, she experienced lifelong complications from diabetes, which contributed to her death.

Today, Daniel wears a silver necklace engraved with Anita’s index fingerprint and the inscription “The love of my life, I am a better man and person because of you.” The engraving shows dozens of scars from where she pricked her finger to test her blood.  “Diabetes is a terrible disease,” he says. “If Anita’s gift to WashU Medicine spares even one person from experiencing what she went through, her struggles will have been worthwhile.”

Gift for ovarian cancer research memorializes beloved wife and dedicated advocate

This past spring – perhaps motivated by the green-is-gold possibility of the season and surely inspired by poetry – Bob Fuessle decided to turn his love for his late wife, Paula, into a lasting tribute. To help fight the disease that took Paula’s life, he made a commitment to endow the Paula Emons-Fuessle Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, which will support ovarian cancer research at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine.

The gift will be paid in part during Bob’s lifetime and completed with a bequest through his will. The gift’s structure will enable Bob to witness the impact of his philanthropy firsthand while ensuring Paula’s memory continues to ripple forward into the lives of future patients facing the condition she bore so gracefully. As Bob says, “It’s not just about Paula; it’s about the women yet to come.”

Paula and Bob, a retired professor of environmental engineering at Bradley University, shared a love of poetry. Avid naturalists, they gravitated toward poets who observed the world closely, discerning beauty in nature’s bittersweet pattern of dormancy and renewal. Among their favorites was Robert Frost. They memorized many of his poems, including “Hyla Brook,” which traces the life of a small stream — boisterous throughout the jewel-weed spring then fading with the hot, dry days of July.



In the years since Paula’s death in 2021, Bob has come to recognize even more keenly the generative power of poetry to renew endlessly, like the stream in “Hyla Brook.” By establishing the ovarian cancer research fund, Bob has created his own cycle of remembrance, a living poem for Paula, who was passionate about advancing ovarian cancer research.

Bob recalls the morning that passion took root. “I was working at the kitchen sink, and Paula had her back to me,” he says. “She was reading the newspaper as she did every morning, and she suddenly started to cry. She said, ‘I’m reading a front-page article about cancer research that is underfunded.’” Ovarian cancer research was mentioned.

“Soon after that episode,” adds Bob, “Paula committed herself to raising money for research to help women like her.”

Reflecting on the impact of such philanthropy, Dineo Khabele, head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at WashU Medicine, says, “The most meaningful advances in women’s health often begin with visionary donors who believe in the power of research. Their support enables us to explore promising treatments, improve early detection, and bring better outcomes to patients who urgently need them.”

Through her own research, Khabele is making progress in the fight against ovarian cancer. She and her team have identified novel drug combinations that are being advanced into early-phase clinical trials for women whose cancer has become unresponsive to chemotherapy. Innovations such as this led Bob and Paula to Siteman more than six years ago.

They became aware of the world-class research underway at the cancer center during Paula’s treatment in Springfield, Illinois, about an hour from their home near Peoria, Illinois. As Paula’s condition progressed, they were determined to receive the best care. At the recommendation of her Springfield oncologist, Paula began traveling to Siteman in St. Louis. She quickly became an advocate for the center’s exceptional research efforts.

A well-known teacher and designer in the knitting world, Paula used her popular “Knitting Pipeline” podcast to raise awareness and funds for ovarian cancer research at Siteman. Together, she and Bob — and eventually far-flung friends and family — made it their mission to ensure that more women would benefit from the kinds of discoveries Siteman was pursuing. They provided spendable support for research and, after Paula’s death, established a fund in her honor.

When asked what motivated his latest gift, Bob pauses to consider the sense of responsibility he feels for other ovarian cancer patients, rooted in his 47-year marriage to Paula and strengthened through her illness.

“Frost has another well-known poem, ‘The Road Not Taken,’ and that’s a motivation,” he says. “There’s a lot of giving in other areas of cancer research and rightfully so. But this cancer is underfunded. And that drives me, because it is so needed.”

Nussbaum family fuels pancreatic cancer research

When Sam Nussbaum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in his 70s, it was no surprise to his family that he chose WashU Medicine for his care. After all, Nussbaum had spent a significant portion of his distinguished career as a physician-scientist and health-care executive at the medical school and BJC HealthCare. And during that time, his family forged a deep connection to WashU.

But the choice did not come out of loyalty. Nussbaum wanted the very latest in cancer care, and he conducted an international search to find it. The pursuit led him to Kian-Huat Lim, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Oncology at WashU Medicine and a medical oncologist at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine. Beyond his clinical skill, Lim is nationally recognized for his innovative and promising bench-to-bedside pancreatic cancer research.

Within months of beginning treatment, Nussbaum and his family — wife, Rhoda; daughters Barrie Kahn Levine and Cara Kahn, AB ’02; and son, Jeffrey — saw the promise of Lim’s science. They decided to support his mission to find effective solutions for this notoriously difficult-to-treat cancer. Although they knew that Sam faced a bleak prognosis, they hoped their support would benefit future patients and their families.

The Nussbaums made their first gift to advance Lim’s work in May 2021, contributing $300,000 in spendable funding to establish the Samuel R. Nussbaum, MD Fund for Innovative Pancreatic Cancer Research within the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine’s Division of Oncology. In November 2024, roughly three years after Sam’s death, they pledged an additional $480,000 to the fund. Their gift fuels WashU’s efforts to promote healthier lives through With You: The WashU Campaign.

“Sam knew that gastrointestinal cancers are significantly on the rise, and he recognized that Dr. Lim is a brilliant scientist,” Rhoda Nussbaum says. “We are fortunate to be able to give back, and we feel strongly that Sam would have wanted us to help other families in this way.”

Their support has enabled Lim to identify several methods used by tumor cells to evade cancer treatment. He has translated those findings into potential new therapies that are currently being tested in multiple national clinical trials. “The Nussbaum Fund has been critical in moving my research forward,” Lim says. “I’m eternally grateful for their support.”

Coming full circle

Barrie Kahn Levine describes her father as a brilliant, well-loved, family-oriented Renaissance man who was passionate about history, architecture, art, gardening, and, of course, biomedicine. Sam Nussbaum began his career at Harvard University, where he spent two decades as a leading endocrinology clinician and researcher. In 1996, he was recruited to St. Louis to serve as executive vice president of medical affairs and system integration at BJC HealthCare. “It was a big deal to move from the East Coast to the middle of the country,” Barrie says. “But our family fell in love with St. Louis and WashU.”

The Nussbaums quickly put down WashU roots. Sam served on the WashU Medicine faculty and taught in Olin Business School’s executive MBA program. Daughter Cara earned a bachelor’s degree from WashU in 2002. Sam and Rhoda, who was a lecturer in communication disorders at Fontbonne University, became close friends with Chancellor Emeritus Mark S. Wrighton and his wife, Risa Zwerling Wrighton. And when family friends visited St. Louis, Sam gave walking tours of the Danforth Campus to show off the beautiful architecture.

“He just loved WashU,” Barrie says. “And our family respected WashU as a pillar of the St. Louis community, so supporting the university was a no-brainer.”

Later, Sam became a nationally acclaimed executive at insurance company WellPoint/Anthem and a consultant for biomedical startups and international health agencies. But he and Rhoda maintained their WashU connection through their philanthropy and leadership.

Over the years, the couple made gifts to the Institute for Public Health and for scholarships across the university. In 2014, the Nussbaums committed $500,000 for new education and research facilities at the Brown School, and they made another $250,000 gift to the school in 2015. In recognition of their generosity, the outdoor space connecting Brown Hall and Goldfarb Hall with Hillman Hall is now known as the Sam and Rhoda Nussbaum Family Plaza. A classroom in Hillman Hall also bears their names. Sam served on the Brown School National Council from 2018 to 2021, and the school posthumously awarded him the Dean’s Medal in June 2022.

The unwanted challenge

A network of support formed around Sam when he began treatment at Siteman Cancer Center during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Barrie and Cara temporarily relocated from the East Coast with their young children to maximize time with their father. Friends delivered nightly dinners to the Nussbaums for months, leaving the food on their doorstep. The Wrightons also visited the family regularly.

Sam continued working as much as he could. Meanwhile, he formed a strong partnership with Lim, who shared his latest research findings and helped him consider participation in clinical trials. Sam did not qualify for trials at Siteman but participated in one at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and another at Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sam died from pancreatic cancer on Sept. 23, 2021, at age 73. “Dr. Nussbaum showed strength and grace right to the end,” Lim says. “He was a special man.”

“Interesting” is not enough

Sam was one of the roughly 320 patients treated for pancreatic cancer each year at Siteman, which is one of the nation’s top five centers for pancreatic cancer patient volume. For Lim, treating patients like Sam inspires and guides his research. “For some researchers, ‘interesting’ is enough,” Lim says. “But it’s not enough for me. I have to think about how my research will benefit the patients who have put their trust in me.”

Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is among the most difficult cancers to treat, with five-year survival rates of around 11%. Lim is determined to push that number much higher. Championing the unconventional idea that pancreatic cancer is an inflammatory disease, he works to understand and address the mechanisms underlying its aggressive behavior and treatment resistance. 

Bolstered by resources from the Nussbaum Fund, Lim and his team have made significant breakthroughs. They recently discovered that a protein called IRAK4 drives inflammation and prevents the immune system from attacking tumors. The team created a method to block IRAK4 and weaken tumor defenses. Their technique is now being tested in a national clinical trial under the National Cancer Institute’s Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN) led by Patrick Grierson, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at WashU Medicine and medical oncologist at Siteman. Lim says the early results are promising.

In related work, Lim has pinpointed how pancreatic tumors evade the first-line chemotherapy regimen known as FOLFIRINOX, a combination of drugs that attack pancreatic cancer cells in multiple ways. He is testing a blocking agent that could allow FOLFIRINOX to do its job better and is now evaluating the approach in a national clinical trial funded by a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the NCI. WashU Medicine’s SPORE in pancreatic cancer is one of only three such programs in the country.

A third study involves the HER-2 receptor, a protein on the surface of cancer cells that is perhaps best known for promoting tumor growth in breast cancer. The Lim lab found that pancreatic tumors generate extra HER-2 as a protective mechanism against certain cancer treatments. He and his colleagues are exploiting that behavior by using HER-2 as a conduit to deliver chemotherapy directly to tumor cells. This clinical trial has also been approved by the NCI’s ETCTN and is currently under protocol development.

Lim believes WashU’s strength in cancer research is its ability to innovate. At the same time, the NIH favors research ideas that are well tested. Philanthropy fills the gap by supporting high-risk, high-reward science, he says. The SPORE grant is a prime example. When Lim first began seeing Sam as a patient, he was struggling to get research funding. “The Nussbaum Fund allowed us to gather the evidence we needed to compete successfully for the SPORE, which supports not only my HER-2 research but also two other major projects addressing pancreatic cancer,” Lim says. “The ultimate goal is to cure pancreatic cancer. I’m hopeful that we will increase survival significantly within the next decade or two.”

Finding solace

Seeing firsthand how philanthropy can push science toward a cure has been gratifying for Cara Kahn. “It feels like Dr. Lim is so close — like he’s on the cusp of something big,” she says. “He’s a hero in our eyes.”

The family’s philanthropic experience also helps them cope with their loss. “It gives you a level of control over something that feels so out of control,” says Barrie, who hopes their story will inspire others to give. “Our dad taught us that research is the cornerstone of medical breakthroughs. It’s critical to support this work, especially now. Philanthropy has never been more important.”

A family portrait in the backyard of a house on a sunny day
Rhoda Nussbaum, far left, and her children, from left, Jeffrey, Barrie, and Cara, hope their support for research conducted by Kian-Huat Lim, MD, PhD, at WashU Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center will improve outcomes for patients facing pancreatic cancer diagnoses. (Photo: Christine Sargologos)

Personalized treatment: Kate’s journey with Dr. Van Tine

In May of 2023, Kate Johnson noticed a mass. Within a matter of months, Kate was diagnosed with Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive soft tissue sarcoma that is extremely rare in adults. Together with the help of Siteman Cancer Center and her oncologist Dr. Brian Van Tine, Kate was able to approach her cancer journey with hope, strength and resolve. 

“The care I received at Siteman made all the difference. Every aspect of my journey was met with unwavering support and expertise,” Kate reflects. 

Dr. Van Tine, the Sarcoma Program Director at Siteman and one of the top sarcoma specialists in the nation, had an indelible impact on Kate’s journey. 

“Dr. Van Tine became a pillar of strength during my treatment,” Kate says. “He took the time to understand me not just as a patient, but as a person. His honesty was something I valued deeply; he always provided hope and a clear path forward without sugarcoating the challenges. His philosophy of treating the whole person, not just the disease, helped me stay strong mentally and emotionally, which was just as important as the physical battle.”

“Personalized treatment is rooted in empathy,” Dr. Van Tine says. “I think it’s important to create a sense of trust and comfort with patients, helping them feel seen, understood and informed.”

By conducting innovative research on cutting-edge treatments that have the capability to bring forth new treatment opportunities for patients like Kate, Dr. Van Tine’s laboratory has become a leader in sarcoma treatment and understanding. 

“Our laboratory studies how to take advantage of molecular weaknesses in cancer cells to develop drugs and therapies that target those weaknesses,” Dr. Van Tine says. “By understanding the metabolism of tumor cells, my team takes bench-level findings to clinical trials, strategically developing combination drug therapies that will transform how sarcomas are treated.” 

Seeing the impact of Siteman’s dedicated physicians and advanced research firsthand, Kate became progressively more interested in Dr. Van Tine’s work. Guided by hope and gratitude, Kate formed ‘Kate’s Krew‘ to champion Dr. Van Tine and his research team’s groundbreaking efforts, working to help fuel the next big breakthrough in the treatment of this rare cancer.

“Kate’s Krew started as a support system during my treatment and has now grown into a community dedicated to making a difference. I hope to inspire others to support Siteman Cancer Center and contribute to the future of cancer research. Philanthropy ensures that institutions like Siteman can continue their vital work, and physicians like Dr. Van Tine can keep making life-changing discoveries and providing incredible care.” 

Dr. Van Tine agrees that visionary support is integral to the future of transformational cancer research. 

“Private philanthropy fuels innovation in cancer research. It provides the necessary funding for clinical trials, new therapies, and advanced technology that can save lives. Without private support, many groundbreaking advancements would not be possible,” Dr. Van Tine says. 

Make a gift to the Siteman Annual Fund in honor of the life-changing medical professionals like Dr. Brian Van Tine today and join Kate, Dr. Van Tine and the Siteman community in their mission to prevent cancer and transform cancer patient care through scientific discovery. 

Steinberg family establishes fund for blood cancer research

Pledge will help advance treatments for acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma

For Howard Steinberg, Washington University in St. Louis runs in the family. His father, Harold, and his uncle, Ben, both studied business at the university with assistance from the GI Bill. In 2013, he and his wife, Cynthia, became Washington University parents when their daughter, Halle Steinberg, arrived on campus from the family’s home in suburban Atlanta.

The Steinbergs’ recent gift to the university, however, has roots in another family history: blood cancer. At the end of his junior year at Washington University, Steinberg lost his father to a brain aneurysm triggered by medications used to treat multiple myeloma. About a decade later, his younger brother, John, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and underwent two bone marrow transplants. Howard served as the donor for both procedures. In 1994, John died at just 32 years old.

Now, Howard and Cynthia are helping advance research into these cancers by creating the Steinberg Family Cancer Research Fund through their family foundation, which includes their children, Halle, and John, who is named after Howard’s late brother. The spendable funding to Washington University School of Medicine will support research led by Todd Fehniger, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Oncology and an investigator at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. The research fund provides Fehniger and his lab with minimum of $250,000 over five years. The first payment was received in March. The Steinbergs also made an additional gift of $50,000 to bolster Fehniger’s work, which focuses on understanding and treating AML and multiple myeloma.

“It is incredibly motivating to receive support from families like the Steinbergs who have firsthand experience with these difficult diseases,” Fehniger says. “Often, our ability to advance research is limited by our resources. Every dollar helps push us further toward curing more patients in the future. I am truly thankful for the Steinbergs’ generous gift to support research into developing new treatments for these diseases.”

A Promising Start

Over the years, the Steinberg family has supported cancer research at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, where Steinberg’s brother received treatment, and other institutions. But despite his connection to the university, Howard was less familiar with Siteman’s innovative approaches to treating blood cancers. That is until December 2021, when he came across an article about an encouraging new immunotherapy that leverages the immune system’s own natural killer (NK) cells to address recurrent AML in children and young adults. Four of the eight patients participating in the phase 1 clinical trial conducted at the School of Medicine reached total remission after 28 days of therapy. Two of these patients stayed in remission for more than three months — one remains in remission over four years later.

These results built upon earlier findings in adult patients made by Fehniger’s lab. In their original study from 2016, Fehniger and his team devised a method to enhance a patient’s NK cells by exposing them to a specific protein cocktail. The researchers observed that exposure to this mixture activated a “memory-like” quality in the NK cells, which increased their ability to attack cancers such as AML in adults.

Intrigued by their discovery, Steinberg arranged a call with Fehniger in early 2022 and was impressed by their interaction. “I just thought he was an absolute rock star,” he says. “And I wanted to help make his work more successful.”

The Business of Research

When Steinberg entered Washington University in 1978, he was on a path toward medical school. But like legions of premedical students before him, he hit a wall with organic chemistry. “I still have nightmares about ‘Benny the benzene ring,’” he jokes. Steinberg eventually pivoted to studying psychology and business and earned an MBA through Olin Business School’s 3-2 dual degree program.

In the 40-plus years since he graduated, Steinberg, along with his business partners, has built a thriving rental car and truck franchise in seven cities. A seasoned entrepreneur, Steinberg recognizes that moving the dial in cancer treatment is an enterprise that requires consistent capital. He sees his family’s new research fund as an angel, or early-stage, investment in Fehniger’s promising research. “Often when investing, you are betting as much on a person as you are on a concept,” Steinberg says. “That’s what our family is doing here. Dr. Fehniger does not have to write a paper or submit an application. The money is there for him to use at his discretion and support his efforts.”

Unrestricted funds like these provide critical fuel for scientific discovery, according to Fehniger. “There is a real gap in our current funding system,” he explains. “You need considerable preliminary data to compete for grants from the National Institutes of Health and many major nonprofits, which takes years to obtain. Multiyear support like this gives us much-needed flexibility to ask questions, explore different paths, and gather additional information. And that enables us secure larger grants and continue our research while making rapid progress.”

New Directions

Support from the Steinbergs is already helping propel Fehniger’s work with NK cells forward. He recently completed a clinical trial testing NK cell immunotherapy in children and young adults who had relapsed after undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplants, which use stem cells from donors. Fehniger says the new study upheld results from the earlier clinical trials, and half of the participants achieved complete remission. Last year, his collaborator, Thomas Pfeiffer, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, presented their findings at a meeting of the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, and they are now preparing a manuscript for publication.

Fehniger has also been able to experiment with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), synthetic receptors that help identify and destroy cancer cells. With resources from the fund, he has generated several CARs, adding them to the NK cells to create modified CAR-NK cells. According to him, the CAR-NK cells can see and attack AML and multiple myeloma better than the NK cells alone.

Last year, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society awarded a $5 million grant to Fehniger and a group of investigators at the medical school. He and fellow oncologist Brad Kahl, MD, professor of medicine, will use their portion of the grant to further study the effectiveness of genetically engineered NK cell immunotherapy in treating blood cancers. In addition, he and another colleague, Amanda Cashen, MD, professor of medicine, will explore NK cell immunotherapy through one of four projects funded by a recent $10.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute that renews the medical school’s Specialized Program of Research Excellence in leukemia led by principal investigator Dan Link, MD, deputy director of Siteman.

“Support from donors like the Steinbergs has really allowed us to test new approaches, including these modified CAR-NK cells, and get a better grasp on how different cells behave in patients,” Fehniger says. “And we have been able to leverage that information to pursue additional funding.”

For his part, Steinberg appreciates receiving regular progress updates from Fehniger, even if his communications require some translation. “I keep telling him, I’m a rental car guy,” he says. “You have to simplify it for me!”

Paying It Forward

Steinberg’s relationship with Fehniger marks yet another chapter in his family’s legacy of leadership and philanthropy at Washington University. He is a member and past chair of the Atlanta Regional Cabinet and sits on the national council of the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He previously served as a member and vice chair of the Alumni Board of Governors.

He and Cynthia are generous donors as well. In 1997, the couple established and later endowed the Regina Karmel Memorial Scholarship, named in honor of Howard’s grandmother, for undergraduates studying economics or business. In 2000, they created the Harold and John Steinberg Memorial Nursing Scholarship Fund for nurses and advanced practice nurses working in the Division of Oncology.

When daughter Halle joined the Bears softball team, the Steinbergs became steadfast supporters of Washington University athletics. They have also previously made gifts for internships at the Skandalaris Center and research at Siteman Cancer Center.

Their latest gift to the university is particularly special because it is the first made through their newly formed family foundation. “We’re so lucky to be able to give back to WashU,” Howard says. “It’s truly a blessing.”

Learn more about how you can support research and patient care at Washington University School of Medicine.