Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine Establish the Lavine Family Fund for Preventative Cancer Therapies

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Developing the best possible cancer therapies is the driving force of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, but the work of Dana-Farber doesn’t stop there. Identifying high-risk patients and using preventative cancer therapies is an essential component of the fight against cancer and the newly established Lavine Family Fund for Preventative Cancer Therapies will help fund the research needed to diagnose and treat cancer before it starts.

The $25 million gift from Jonathan Lavine, co-managing partner at Bain Capital, and his wife, Jeannie Lavine, will establish a dedicated fund for preventative cancer therapy research and endow three chairs to form the Lavine Family Chairs for Preventative Cancer Therapies. This gift will enable Dana-Farber to invest dedicated research to life-saving preventative cancer research.

Through the Lavine Family Chairs for Preventative Cancer Therapies, three researchers will be able to dedicate resources to investigating precursor conditions, immunotherapies and other potential prevention therapies. This gift will also help researchers to develop new methods of early detection and enhance the ability of doctors to identify and test for early-stage cancers.

“Early detection and cancer prevention are essential to the fight against cancer. Effective early detection methods and therapies will enable doctors to save more lives,” says Jonathan Lavine. “It is too common that cancer is not discovered and diagnosed until a patient is experiencing symptoms, at which point the cancer has progressed to a point where it is not easily treated. To defeat cancer, early detection and prevention research are absolutely critical.”

This is not the first time that the Lavines have made a life-changing gift to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Lavines were personally impacted by cancer when Jonathan Lavine’s mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma over two decades ago. Lavine was able to witness the work of Dana-Farber firsthand as his mother received successful treatment, and was inspired to give back to Dana-Farber. In 2013, Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine gave $10 million to an initiative to enhance the patient and family experience at Dana-Farber. Jonathan Lavine says, “The work at Dana-Farber saves lives and it is our honor to be a small part of making those miracles happen.”

About Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine

Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine are longtime supporters of healthcare and other civic and charitable causes in Boston and beyond. Through their foundation, the Crimson Lion Foundation, the Lavines are able to focus their philanthropic efforts to support organizations like the Pan-Mass Challenge, which raises funds for cancer research at Dana-Farber.

Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine are also passionate about supporting organizations that fight for equal access to education. Jonathan Lavine is Chair Emeritus for City Year, an organization that provides support to students in schools with high levels of poverty. The Lavines also founded the Lavine Family Fellowship Challenge Fund at Harvard Business School to fund scholarships for first generation college students and are highly involved with uAspire, an organization that provides financial aid advising and support to high school and college students.

The Lavines support several other charitable causes, including the Anti-Defamation League and Combined Jewish Philanthropies, organizations that honor and support people of the Jewish faith and those in need.

The Lavines are also involved in Opportunity Nation and LIFT, which both work to close the economic opportunity gap in the United States.


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