News, Continued

Gerstner Philanthropies Program Director Alice Goh spoke on a panel with the Environmental Defense Fund to discuss collaborative research efforts to drive livestock methane solutions, joined by Joseph McFadden, Associate Professor of Dairy Cattle Biology at Cornell University, and Facundo Etchebehere, Senior VP of Sustainability Strategy at Danone. The panel discussed the need for enteric methane solutions that are safe, effective, and can be easily deployed to farms, and highlighted Gerstner Philanthropies’ work with the Global Methane Hub’s Enteric Fermentation Accelerator to drive research and development in livestock methane mitigation.

The Global Methane Hub’s Enteric Fermentation R&D Accelerator has published its Research Strategy, marking a milestone in the fight to tackle livestock methane emissions. The accelerator was launched last year with support from Gerstner Philanthropies, the Bezos Earth Fund, High Tide Foundation, and several other private and public funders. Agriculture accounts for 40% of global methane emissions, with 70% of that coming from methane produced during livestock digestion. As methane is 86 times more potent than CO2, this marks a significant step in the fight to curb climate change. “The Accelerator’s research strategy will address key knowledge gaps in each of the identified focus areas,” says Hayden Montgomery, Program Director of Agriculture. “As new scientific information emerges, additional research areas will be incorporated in the research strategy, ensuring it remains up-to-date and responsive to the latest developments, to ultimately, develop cost-effective mitigation solutions to directly decrease livestock methane emissions.”

Renhe Luo, PhD, who recently graduated from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK), has been awarded the 2024 Chairman’s Prize. The competitive award is presented annually and was established by GSK’s Board of Trustees Chair Emeritus Louis V. Gerstner Jr., for whom the school is named. This year’s $2,000 Chairman’s Prize was awarded to Dr. Luo for his research on gene enhancers, which are regulatory DNA sequences that are critical in determining when and where genes are turned on or off. Enhancers play an important role in development, cell differentiation, and the response to environmental signals. “This research provides strategies for discovering more comprehensive enhancer sets, both in normal development and in cells transitioning to cancer cells or other disease cells,” Dr. Luo says.

Feeding Our Neighbors, a vital initiative by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, brought essential relief to over 200 families with a pop-up pantry at St. Helena’s in the Bronx. Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, the Executive Director, attended the event and personally engaged with attendees. “The price of food is astronomical and people who are on limited income, many, many, many of whom are working, just can’t make ends meet at the end of the month,” the Monsignor shared. Supported by Gerstner Philanthropies, this program operates 24 pop-up food pantries annually across the diocese, directly combating hunger and food insecurity by reaching New Yorkers right in their communities.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) held its Academic Convocation and Commencement on May 15, 2024, celebrating new graduates and award winners. Our Chairman, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., namesake of the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School, had the opportunity to honor the graduates. This year, 10 students earned their doctoral degrees in cancer biology from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK). In addition, five practicing MSK doctors received Master of Science degrees in clinical and translational cancer research from GSK. Keynote speaker Elaine Fuchs, PhD, received an honorary degree for her contributions to science. Congratulations to all the graduates on their achievements!