Milestones in the History of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund
1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s
1947
Sidney Farber, M.D., establishes the Children's Cancer Research Foundation, now Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, introducing the first research program in chemotherapy for children with cancer.
1948
The Variety Club of New England organizes a radio broadcast from the bedside of a young leukemia patient named "Jimmy" as he is visited by members of the Boston Braves baseball team, owned by Lou Perini. Contributions pour in to buy Jimmy a television set on which to watch the Braves, launching "the Jimmy Fund."
1949
The Jimmy Fund/Variety Club Theater Collections Program begins.
1951
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is incorporated in Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Children's Cancer Research Foundation, Inc.
Construction of the four-story Jimmy Fund Building is completed. In 1958, the building is expanded to eight floors to house research facilities and is renamed the Jimmy Fund Research Laboratories.
1953
The Boston Red Sox, thanks to team owners Tom and Jean Yawkey, designate the Jimmy Fund as the team's official charity when the Boston Braves move to Milwaukee.
1956
The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association designates the Jimmy Fund as its official charity.
1957
Hollywood movie mogul Louis B. Mayer becomes a patient of Dr. Farber. Mayer later calls Dr. Farber "the single most important man I've ever met."
1962
The Charles A. Dana Foundation makes the first of several major grants to the Children's Cancer Research Foundation.
1966
Red Sox great, Ted Williams, who has identified the Jimmy Fund as his charity, is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, with major contributions made to the Jimmy Fund in his honor.
1967
The 1967 Red Sox "Impossible Dream Team" votes to give the Jimmy Fund a share of its winnings from the World Series.
1969
The Institute's charter is expanded to provide services for patients of all ages.
1970
Students from Harvard University's Eliot House help organize the first "Evening with Champions," an annual ice-skating exhibition featuring Olympic medal winners, to benefit the Jimmy Fund.
1973
Dana-Farber receives federal designation as a regional comprehensive cancer center.
Dr. Farber dies.
1974
The Children's Cancer Research Foundation is renamed the Sidney Farber Cancer Center in honor of its founder. Two years later, the name is again modified, becoming the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute.
1976
The all-volunteer Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is established to raise funds through special events, provide services to Institute patients and sponsor public education programs.
Construction of the Charles A. Dana Building is completed.
1977
The first Jimmy Fund council of volunteers, the Jimmy Fund Council of Greater Boston, is founded.
1980
Institute President Baruj Benacerraf, M.D., receives the Nobel Prize for work that unveiled the genetic underpinnings of the human immune system.
The Pan-Massachusetts Challenge is founded. This two-day, 192-mile Sturbridge-to-Provincetown ride has grown into the Jimmy Fund's single largest fundraising event.
1982
The first "Flights of Fancy" gala is held by the Friends of Sidney Farber Cancer Institute.
1983
The Sidney Farber Cancer Institute is renamed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in recognition of generous support from the Charles A. Dana Foundation. The new name honors industrialist Charles A. Dana, who shared Dr. Farber's conviction that there is "no such thing as a hopeless case."
The first annual Scooper Bowl ice cream extravaganza to benefit the Jimmy Fund is held on the Boston Common.
The Jimmy Fund Golf Program is officially organized.
1984
Several major annual Jimmy Fund events are initiated:
The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association cross-state "Run for Jimmy;"
The Celebrity Cup ski weekend at Sugarloaf/USA in Maine;
The Jimmy Fund Radiothon, held in conjunction with the Red Sox, an all-day broadcast heard throughout New England.
1987
As part of Dana-Farber's 40th anniversary, the first patient reunion is held, uniting cancer survivors and their families for a day of celebration and education.
The $7.5-million Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research is established with a challenge grant by Institute Trustees J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver to foster innovative research by the Institute's most talented researchers.
1988
Two out of every three children who enter the Jimmy Fund Clinic are cured.
The Louis B. Mayer Research Laboratories are opened, providing state-of-the-art facilities in which to pursue answers to the many questions surrounding cancer.
Ted Williams' 70th birthday celebration, a Jimmy Fund benefit, sells out at the Wang Center in Boston.
1989
Institute physicians, in conjunction with Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy and doctors from other U.S. cancer centers, collaborate with Russian cancer specialists to bring innovative cancer treatments to the Soviet Union.
1990
Former President Ronald Reagan visits the Institute and is the guest of honor at a Jimmy Fund luncheon held at the Sheraton Boston.
Thomas A. Yawkey Research Laboratories are dedicated.
The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge is founded. This event, run in conjunction with the Boston Marathon®, supports the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research.
1991
The Red Sox, the Jimmy Fund and Stop & Shop supermarkets team up to introduce the Triple Winner Game, a scratch card game that Stop & Shop customers can play by making a $1 donation to the Jimmy Fund.
1992
Four Jimmy Fund fundraisers pass the $1 million mark: the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, the Jimmy Fund/Variety Club Theatre Collections Program, the Stop & Shop/Red Sox Triple Winner Program and the Jimmy Fund Golf Program.
1993
Dana-Farber initiates the Women's Cancers Program to reduce the incidence of cancers in women, specifically breast cancer, lung cancer and gynecological and reproductive cancers. A National Advisory Council composed of local and national leaders is formed to raise funds and public awareness of the program.
Dana-Farber establishes the High Risk Research Clinic, one of the nation's first genetic testing programs for members of families with an inherited susceptibility to cancer.
More than 4,000 participants in the 5th annual Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk set a new record for this popular fundraiser, raising more than $1 million.
1995
The Abraham D. Gosman Adult Clinic is dedicated at Dana-Farber.
A chapel is dedicated at Dana-Farber, providing a spiritual sanctuary for patients, families and staff members. Its construction, spearheaded by the Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is made possible by generous contributions in memory of Jeffrey R. Forbes.
The Jimmy Fund honors longtime supporter Ted Williams by forming the Ted Williams 406 Club named after the former Red Sox slugger's stellar 1941 batting average.
1996
The Eleanor and Maxwell Blum Patient and Family Resource Center opens. Housing a collection of books, pamphlets, computers and audio and videotapes, the center also offers computer assistance to patients and families who seek information on cancer-related topics.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute joins Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital to create Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, a joint venture that offers adult cancer patients the combined strengths of three of the world's leading centers for cancer care and research.
The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge passes the $1 million mark with 400 participants running in the 100th Boston Marathon.
1997
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund celebrate 50 years of progress in the fight against cancer and related diseases. The commemoration includes a patient reunion, a scientific symposium that features nationally and internationally known scientists, and a celebration in which Deaconess Road (between the Smith and Dana Buildings) is renamed "Jimmy Fund Way." As part of the festivities, members of the Boston Braves of the 1940s and the 1967 Red Sox Dream Team visit during the summer.
The Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Research Laboratories, housed in a new 12-story building devoted to cancer research, are dedicated in October. The nearly 270,000-square-foot building provides space for more than 500 Dana-Farber researchers, state-of-the-art laboratories, an expanded library, parking and specialized research centers.
The Gillette Center for Women's Cancers opens in the Dana Building. With financial support from the Gillette Company, the center provides a full range of services for women with breast or gynecologic cancers – from medical treatment to nutritional and psychological counseling. The center also includes the Houghton Mifflin Patient and Family Resource Room, where patients can gain information on their condition and its treatment, and the Friends of Dana-Farber Boutique, which sells wigs, hats, scarves, and other items of use to patients.
The Institute's inpatient beds move to a location at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where they remain under Dana-Farber's license, as part of the implementation of Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care. The Institute opens several floors of new clinics in the Dana Building dedicated to adult outpatient care.
The Pan-Massachusetts Challenge makes another quantum leap in its fundraising and contributes $5.5 million to the Jimmy Fund.
1998
Dana-Farber welcomes back the original "Jimmy," 62-year-old Carl Einar Gustafson, who, as a 12-year-old patient of Institute founder Sidney Farber, M.D., helped launch the Jimmy Fund in 1948. A party is held for staffers to meet Gustafson, and he throws out the ceremonial first pitch at a Red Sox-Yankee game at Fenway Park.
Dana-Farber opens its first on-site radiation therapy center. Located in the Dana building, the center is used primarily by patients being treated in the Gillette Center for Women's Cancers.
The Institute establishes the nation's first Adult Patient and Family Advisory Council. This Council has become a model for other centers to involve patients and their families in developing the highest standard of comprehensive and compassionate health care.
1999
The Institute announces the formation of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, which places the Institute at the hub of cancer research and prevention within the Harvard medical community. Creating new links between Dana-Farber researchers and their colleagues at Harvard Medical School and other Harvard-affiliated hospitals, the program will also strengthen the Institute's efforts in cancer prevention by tapping the expertise of epidemiologists at the Harvard School of Public Health.
2000
The Institute formalizes its 50-year-plus affiliation with Children's Hospital with the creation of Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Care. The new organization is designed to enhance the quality and continuity of care at the two institutions.
2001
Reflecting a focus on "translational research," the Center for Experimental Medicine at Dana-Farber is established. The center coordinates the Institute's efforts to convert laboratory advances into better treatments for patients.
The Kraft Family Blood Center moves to new, expanded quarters in the Jimmy Fund Building. Center leaders expect the facility will eventually collect 7,000 bags of platelets a year for patients at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
2002
Broadening patients' access to quality end-of-life care, the Institute acquires Waltham-based HealthCare Dimensions Hospice. The hospice's team of physicians, nurses, social workers, home-health aides, and counselors offers palliative-care services to all Dana-Farber patients needing them, as well as to patients from other Boston-area medical facilities.
The new owners of the Boston Red Sox, one of whom was successfully treated for cancer at Dana-Farber, recommit their team to the fight against cancer and begin an extended 50th anniversary celebration of the teams' relationship with the Jimmy Fund.
Underscoring its commitment to patient protection, Dana-Farber establishes an on-site Center for Patient Safety. The center coordinates patient safety-related activities at the Institute, with a particular emphasis on research and educational programs.
2003
The Dana-Farber Board of Trustees approves a five-year Strategic Plan that sets the Institute on course to conquer major forms of cancer within a decade. The plan calls for specific investments in research and patient care while creating greater collaboration among scientists and clinicians, speeding the development of new cancer therapies.
The longtime "Voice of the Red Sox" and director of the Jimmy Fund from 1978 to 1984, Ken Coleman, passes away at the age of 78. As the lead radio broadcaster for the Boston Red Sox for two decades, Coleman spread the Jimmy Fund message to countless listeners across New England and beyond.
2004
To meet the unique needs of Dana-Farber's more than 400 postdoctoral fellows and 50 graduate students, the Institute opens an Office for Postdoctoral Training and Career Development. The office provides career-counseling services, information on affordable housing and professional development, and social opportunities for postdocs and grad students.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation Adult Survivorship Clinic opens with a focus on the needs of adult patients in the years after cancer treatment. Established with a grant from the foundation of champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, the center is part of the Perini Family Survivors' Center at Dana-Farber.
Advancing their effort to create a model cancer center, Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women's Hospital make organizational changes in their joint program in adult oncology, the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center. The move establishes a single senior leadership for the center and strengthens the sense of a united identity and direction.
Riders in the 25th anniversary Pan-Massachusetts Challenge raise a record $20 million for the Jimmy Fund, bringing to more than $122 million the amount the event has contributed to research and care at Dana-Farber since 1979. PMC Founder and Executive Director, Billy Starr, receives the Sidney Farber Medical Research Award.
2005
The Institute says farewell to several prominent members of the Dana-Farber family and welcomes a new Chief Operating Officer.
In April, the Institute loses one of its most accomplished and respected scientists when Stanley Korsmeyer, M.D., who discovered the first of a class of cancer-causing genes and led research into the natural process of cell death, passes away.
A few months later, the departure of James Conway, Dana-Farber's Chief Operating Officer for ten years, marks a milestone in the Institute's history. As the year ends, the Institute announces that Conway would be succeeded as Chief Operating Officer by Janet E. Porter, Ph.D., a national figure in leadership development.
November 2005 brings the death of veteran radio and television host Ralph Edwards, whose 1947 broadcast of the radio program "Truth or Consequences" introduced the world to "Jimmy," a young cancer patient of Sidney Farber, MD, launching what would become the Jimmy Fund.
The Institute develops a plan to meet its long-term space needs. The plan envisions the construction of a new clinical and clinical research building at 450 Brookline Avenue and the continued leasing of space in and near the Longwood Medical Area for basic science laboratories and support services. The new building would necessitate the demolition of the 454 Brookline Avenue building and the Redstone Animal Facility, and would interconnect with the Mayer and Smith buildings to promote interaction between clinical and research staff.
In recognition of the excellence of Dana-Farber nursing care, the American Nurses Credentialing Center bestows a coveted "Magnet" designation on Dana-Farber. Considered the highest achievement in nursing care, the award makes Dana-Farber the fourth "Magnet" hospital in Massachusetts and one of only 150 worldwide.
Construction begins on the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center's first "satellite" ambulatory care facility, located at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain. The unit, licensed and accredited under Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and operated under the umbrella of the DF/BCC, is slated to open in 2007. Current Faulkner cancer patients will receive care at the new facility, as will DF/BWCC patients with certain types of cancer including breast, gastrointestinal, and thoracic who elect to be treated there.
2006
In February 2006, the Institute loses another broadcasting pioneer and supporter, former Boston Red Sox and national television sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who for decades helped spread the word about the Jimmy Fund and was named an honorary Dana-Farber trustee for life in 1954.
In the largest single gift in Dana-Farber's history, longtime Institute trustees and benefactors Richard A. and Susan F. Smith pledge to make an unrestricted gift of $50 million to Dana-Farber, which enables the Institute to begin construction of a new center for cancer care and clinical research on Brookline Avenue.
2007
The Institute launches a $1 billion capital campaign, Mission Possible: The Dana-Farber Campaign to Conquer Cancer, to support the quest for dramatic gains against cancer in the years ahead.
Construction begins on the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center's second "satellite" outpatient clinic, located at Milford Regional Medical Center, 35 miles southwest of Boston. Scheduled to open in 2008, the two-story, 54,000-square-foot facility will offer exam rooms, chemotherapy infusion, radiation therapy, and diagnostic imaging to adult cancer patients.
Government officials, Boston Red Sox legends, and Dana-Farber leaders are on hand in June for the official groundbreaking of the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care, the Institute's future home of adult outpatient care and clinical research. The 14-story, 275,000-square-foot facility is named in honor of the Yawkey Foundation's $30 million gift to Dana-Farber's Mission Possible campaign.
2008
In December, Dana-Farber opened a new medical oncology outpatient unit in Londonderry, New Hampshire. The new unit, Dana-Farber/New Hampshire Oncology-Hematology, offers clinical trials, pain management and palliative care, genetic screening, a resource room, social work, nutritional counseling, and a survivorship program.
