Minds Matter Benefit Hits Record Funding to Bolster Brain Tumor Research
More than 380 philanthropists, physicians, and patients attended the 17th Annual Minds Matter benefit on May 9, raising more than $789,000 to support brain tumor research and patient care at the Lou and Jean Malnati Brain Tumor Institute (MBTI) of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Held at The Ritz-Carlton, the event celebrated Malnati Brain Tumor Institute’s research accomplishments and reputation for providing world-class care to patients with brain tumors. Every year, MBTI admits more than 3,000 new patients with brain tumors and performs more than 700 brain tumor surgeries.
The event featured a dinner, auction, and paddle raise, as well as remarks from MBTI co-directors James P. Chandler, MD, and Amy Heimberger, MD, PhD.
This year, the MBTI established the Transformational Impact Award to honor someone who has profoundly impacted scientific progress and patient care. Dr. Chandler presented the inaugural award to Jean Malnati-Miller, who has been a staunch advocate for cancer research and care since her husband, Lou Malnati, was treated for melanoma at Northwestern in the 1970s. In brief remarks, she said that she was attending the benefit to represent Lou.
“He would've loved this, and he would've been here to thank you all,” she said after accepting the award, presented by Dr. Chandler. “I'm here to thank you for him and for everybody that supports the Brain Tumor Institute.”
In 2017, the Lou Malnati Cancer Research Foundation made a transformational gift to the institute to help advance education, research and patient care at the Brain Tumor Institute. The Lou Malnati Cancer Research Foundation has been instrumental in the cancer research community, raising more than $4 million to benefit organizations including MBTI.
Amplifying Research
Over 700,000 individuals and their families in the US face the difficulties posed by brain and spinal tumor diagnoses. MBTI scientists are dedicated to advancing research and tirelessly working to find treatments for even the rarest brain tumors.
The institute expanded its research productivity by 20 percent over the last year, Dr. Heimberger told attendees. One highlight, she said, is that MBTI investigators have developed two next-generation immunotherapies for glioblastoma: one that triggers profound immune responses to directly kill cancer cells, and another that trains the immune system to attack various components within the cancer.
“These are bench to bedside. These are first in class. These were devised by MBTI scientists and investigators working together as a team,” Dr. Heimberger said.
While glioblastoma remains a significant focus, MBTI also addresses other malignancies through a multidisciplinary care and research approach, including low-grade gliomas, brain metastases, and meningiomas. Of note, the MBTI meningioma team identified new therapeutic targets and markers for radiation benefit and developed two new therapeutics nearing patient introduction—all in the last year.
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Attendees also heard from Melanie Fielder Andrews of Naperville, Illinois, who was treated at MBTI for diffuse astrocytoma, which was only identified through a brain scan following a car accident in 2019.
In 2022, a non-Northwestern oncologist issued a bleak prognosis, stating that nothing could be done. So, her family regrouped at MBTI, where care under Dr. Stupp transformed her trajectory.
“The Malnati Brain Tumor Institute has had a huge impact,” Andrews said. “We came from a place where there were no options and no hope to so many options and so much hope.”
This year’s event was emceed for the first time by sports personality Danny Parkins, whose brother, Brad Parkins, was treated for glioblastoma at MBTI and passed away in 2023.
Parkins specifically thanked Roger Stupp, MD, MBTI co-director and the Paul C. Bucy Professor of Neurological Surgery, for his compassionate care for his brother, explaining that Dr. Stupp’s care was what inspired him to get involved in the brain tumor fundraising community.
“The Malnati Brain Tumor Institute gave my brother hope. It gave him a plan, gave him dignity and belief. For that, the Parkins family will never be able to repay [Northwestern], and we thank all of you,” he said.