PHOTO CREDIT: Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School
PHOTO CREDIT: Jamaal Dozier (via Good Shepherd Services)
Gerstner Philanthropies focuses on biomedical research, educational opportunities, and assistance for people who have suffered a temporary setback and could use a “helping hand” to restore their equilibrium.
Our Biomedical Research funding falls into two categories:
- Supporting important genomic research that could lead to breakthroughs in clinical practice
- Enabling talented young scientists to pursue a career in research
Our Education work supports students who have talent and determination but whose opportunity to excel is limited because of their economic circumstances.
Our Helping Hands program provides assistance for people experiencing an unforeseen emergency through one-time cash grants.
In addition, we make a small number of grants related to or outside of these areas of focus.
News
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Columbia University Announces 2021 Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Scholars
April 6, 2021
Four physician-scientists at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons—Jennifer Gelinas, Catherine Spina, Aaron Viny, and Xiao Zhao—have been named 2021 Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Scholars. Eliza C. Miller, a 2018 Gerstner Scholar, has been named a 2021 Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Merit Awardee. Since 2008, The Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Scholars Program has supported tenure-track physicians who conduct research that has the promise to bring new treatments to patients. The fund provides a stipend of $75,000 per year, for up to three years, to support the awardees’ research projects. Scholars are nominated by a committee of distinguished research faculty and selected by the VP&S dean. The program also presents the Gerstner Merit Award to an outstanding third-year Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Scholar who has made great strides in research.
Read more about this year's scholars at columbia.edu
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2020 Gerstner Scholar Publication: Multimodal pooled Perturb-CITE-seq screens in patient models define mechanisms of cancer immune evasion
March 1, 2021
A recent article in Nature Genetics highlights the work of Dr. Benjamin Izar, a 2020 Gerstner Scholar at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Izar's work is focused on the mechanisms of drug resistance to cancer immunotherapy. Resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors is a key challenge in cancer therapy, which Dr. Izar and his team aims to address through innovative techniques such as multi-modal single-cell screenings. These studies may lead to new drug discovery for patients who have shown resistance to cancer immunotherapy treatments.
Read more at nature.com
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Reflections on Helping Hands
Lou Gerstner shares the origin of and his vision for the emergency grants program, lessons learned over the past decade, and his belief in the critical importance of the work.
Watch the video