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Thank you for your generous support!

Donors EXCELERATE ������ϲ�����

Pioneering cancer research

Through the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation, Gary Kunis ’73, LHD ’02, and Connie Wong are advancing pathbreaking cancer research at ������ϲ�����.

Their son, who graduated with a bioengineering degree from University of Rochester, died of brain cancer at age 33. In 2018, Kunis and Wong established the Douglas Hsu Memorial Scholarship in Biomedical Engineering to support first-year students in the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science. Recently, they expanded their support to further honor their son’s memory and foster biomedical engineering research that could help combat the disease.

In recognition of their generosity, ������ϲ����� has named a lab in its Biotechnology Building the Douglas Hsu Research Laboratory. A dedication was held Oct. 16.

Their support provides for the purchase of crucial equipment and other items related to the research conducted in the lab, which includes developing therapeutic cancer vaccines through a genome-editing technology that converts a patient’s cancer cells into vaccines that mobilize their own immune systems to eliminate tumors.

“Biotechnology was something so dear to his heart, and that’s why we’re very lucky to have this opportunity to dedicate this lab to our son,” Wong said at the event.

������ϲ����� President Harvey Stenger thanked Kunis and Wong for their extensive support of the University over the years. He said with this latest gift, faculty and graduate students will be able to pursue “the most innovative research in this field and, more importantly, add to people’s health and well-being for generations to come.”

“Every single trip when I come back to ������ϲ�����, I see progress, I see more faculty, I see more students, and they’re so energetic,” Wong said. “This school is part of our family.”

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