News

Saint Luke’s Catholic Church in the South Bronx was recently featured in The Good Newsroom for its expanded food pantry and community hall renovation, supported by Gerstner Philanthropies. The project tripled storage capacity, added accessibility features, and created new space for programs such as English classes and job training. The upgraded facility enables Saint Luke’s to provide fresh produce, dairy, and other essentials to hundreds of families each week—advancing its mission to serve the community with dignity and compassion.

Supported by Gerstner Philanthropies, the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) has awarded $700,000 in multi-year transformational grants to expand food access in Eastern Massachusetts. These initiatives are designed to strengthen community-based responses to food insecurity and build lasting capacity across the region. The South Shore Food Bank/Weymouth Food Pantry will use the grant to double warehouse space and launch a regional food rescue program, while the YMCA of Greater Boston will establish a choice-based, grocery-style pantry with expanded hours and integrated social services. “The Greater Boston Food Bank plays an indispensable role throughout Eastern Massachusetts, providing fresh, nutritious food to our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Dr. Elizabeth Gerstner. “We are proud to support these important projects both on the South Shore and in Boston.” These transformational gifts were made possible due to a three-year, $1M commitment to GBFB to support food access and emergency food programs in high-need areas of Boston.

Memorial Sloan Kettering has announced the 2025 Cohort of the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Physician Scholars Program, honoring four Gerstner Scholars: Brinda Alagesan, MD, PhD, Phillip Choi, MD, PhD, Alexander Goglia, MD, PhD, and Quinlan Sievers, MD, PhD. Established in 2021, the program supports outstanding early-career physician-scientists working to advance translational cancer research. This year also marks the graduation of the program’s inaugural 2022 cohort, with 11 physician-scholars supported to date. Congratulations to the classes of 2025 and 2028!

We are proud to share "Intervening at the Edge: Lessons from Helping Hands", a new report by United Neighborhood Houses (UNH) highlighting the impact of our Helping Hands program from 2019–2024. Gerstner Philanthropies has partnered with UNH through the Helping Hands program to provide emergency cash assistance to low-income New Yorkers facing sudden crises. Administered through UNH’s settlement house network, Helping Hands grants have helped prevent evictions, restore stability after illness or job loss, and cover urgent needs such as rent, utilities, and essential household items. Since 2019, over $5.3 million has been distributed across nearly 3,700 grants and 84.7% of recipients remained stably housed one year after receiving assistance.

Zhi “Zack” Zheng, who is scheduled to receive his PhD from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK) later this year, has received the 2025 Chairman’s Prize. The prestigious award, established by Louis V. Gerstner Jr., is presented each year to recognize an outstanding first-author publication penned by a GSK student. This year's prize was awarded to Zheng for his research on the function of a protein called SPO11, which creates double-strand breaks in DNA. When they occur, double-strand breaks can lead to genomic instability and cell death. The new system for studying SPO11 activity in the test tube opens the door to answering fundamental questions about the mechanism and control of recombination and will provide new insight into human reproductive health and disease. “This valuable hands-on experience inspired me to study the molecular basis underlying biological processes using biochemical and biophysical tools,” said Zheng. “GSK offered everything I was looking for in a graduate program- a flexible and comprehensive curriculum as well as the chance to work with a group of active and intelligent scientists working across different fields