BSF Golf & Tennis Classic raises important funds for groundbreaking clinical trial
“Tee It Up for Brain Tumor Research: the Brain Science Foundation Golf & Tennis Classic” was a tremendous success! Held on September 21, 2015 at Oyster Harbors Club in Osterville, MA, the tournament gathered 165 supporters, including foundation leadership, corporate sponsors, clinicians, patients, and friends of the foundation. Funds raised at this event will directly fund the first ever Phase II Clinical Trial of personalized drug therapies for Meningiomas. This project is truly groundbreaking and represents a paradigm shift in therapies for primary brain tumors generally and for meningiomas specifically.
Oyster Harbors and Cotuit Bay served as a stunning backdrop for the occasion, and the weather could not have been better. Sixteen tennis players were treated to a competitive round robin on the courts, while 88 golfers were challenged by Oyster Harbors’ beautiful course. Additional sponsors and guests joined for the evening reception, where we were honored to hear from numerous clinicians in the field of neuroscience.
E. Antonio (“Nino”) Chiocca, MD, PhD, Neurosurgeon-in-Chief and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, as well as Jeremy Rich, MD, Chair of the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic were on hand to welcome attendees and speak about the importance of research funds. Priscilla Brastianos, MD, Director of the Central Nervous System Metastasis Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor of Medical Oncology at Harvard Medical School presented new data regarding the first ever multi-center trial of precision medicine in brain tumors that she and her team launched in September. In 2013, the BSF funded Dr. Brastianos’ research as she led the first effort to comprehensively genomically characterize meningiomas. This research resulted in the discovery of novel, recurrent mutations in Meningiomas, which led Dr. Brastianos’ to launch this clinical trial. The trial began in September, and we expect it will have a significant impact on how we treat Meningiomas in the future.
The BSF is proud to direct all the proceeds of the Golf & Tennis Classic to this exciting clinical trial.
Thank you to all our sponsors and participants! A special thanks to Ocean Spray Cranberries, the Kessler Foundation, the Lagasse Group, Suffolk Construction, DTR Modern Galleries, and New England Capital, all of whom have been top sponsors of this event since its inception in 2009.
The Brain Science Foundation is honored to have such a devoted group of supporters and we would like to thank each of them for their belief in our mission.
