40 Years of Breast Cancer Research: Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation Celebrates Triumphs since Founding

Chicago's New Clinical Trial Engine

Thanks to a $1.8 million investment from the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation, Northwestern, RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of Chicago joined forces in 2024 to expand access to innovative breast cancer clinical trials citywide, promoting a more diverse patient pool and stronger science.

“Bringing the three institutions together gives us a critical mass, which can really make Chicago a leader in breast health,” Laura Sage said. “I’m super excited about that, and I’m grateful that we have three founding partners that share that vision—that's incredibly unique.”

By offering trials across all three health systems—and providing support for expenses such as travel and childcare—the consortium is removing barriers to participation and ensuring that lifesaving treatments reach more patients where they already receive care.

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Remembering Lynn Sage

Lynn Sage was a vibrant, compassionate Chicagoan—a preschool teacher, devoted mother of two daughters, and loving wife—who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 34 in 1979. She faced a five-year battle with extraordinary strength and grace before passing away at 39. Weeks before her death, she made a promise with a friend who also had breast cancer that their daughters would never endure what they had. That promise inspired her family and friends to establish the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation in 1985. She would have turned 80 on October 16, 2025.



Lynn Sage (middle) with daughters Laura (left) and Halee (right) in the late 1970s.

For 40 years, the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation has been a philanthropic partner of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, supporting breast cancer research, physician training, and clinical collaboration at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. In 2025, the foundation marked that four-decade milestone alongside what would have been the 80th birthday of its namesake, Lynn Sage.

Since 1985, the foundation has raised more than $50 million, with a significant share directed to Northwestern Medicine. Its tried-and-true approach has always been to fund investigators early, back promising ideas, and enable institutions to move quickly as science evolves.

“The short answer of our mission is to eradicate breast cancer,” Foundation Executive Director Kirstin Chernawsky said. “We do that by investing in early-career doctors and innovative research.”

The Lynn Sage Scholar research awards, for example, have provided pilot support for projects led by dozens of early-career investigators at Northwestern. The data from these projects often serve as a springboard to obtain larger grants; since 2020 alone, Lynn Sage-funded scholars at Northwestern have secured more than $20 million in external funding from federal entities like the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense.

The foundation’s investments at Northwestern have a long track record of success. In 1993, support for research led by former faculty member V. Craig Jordan, PhD, helped propel the development of Tamoxifen, now a global standard therapy for treating and preventing hormone-positive breast cancer. His research showed that Tamoxifen, a drug originally designed to block the effects of estrogen and prevent pregnancy, could also arrest cancer cell growth. The drug received US Food and Drug Administration approval for use in breast cancer treatment in 1999 and is listed on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines.

“That’s probably the biggest breakthrough the foundation helped to fund,” said Laura Sage, whose mother’s tragic death due to breast cancer at the age of 39 inspired the foundation. “Tamoxifen is now really a standard of care.”

Dr. Jordan passed away in 2024, but his career was marked by accomplishments and spurred further research investments at Northwestern. During his time at Feinberg, Dr. Jordan was also the inaugural Diana Princess of Wales Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Program at Lurie Cancer Center.

Seema Khan, MD, the Bluhm Family Professor of Cancer Research and professor of Surgery (Breast Surgery) at Feinberg, is widely recognized for her work on the safety and tolerability of breast cancer prevention drugs and her investigations into new strategies to reduce breast cancer risk. Over the past 25 years, she said, the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation has been a critical partner in advancing this prevention research.

“The foundation’s long-standing and continued support has been vital to our progress in developing prevention approaches that bring real hope to women at higher risk of developing breast cancer,” said Dr. Khan, who joined Northwestern in 2000.

Collaboration remains a pillar of Northwestern and the foundation’s partnership. The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium—now in its 27th year—convenes clinicians and researchers at Lurie Cancer Center to share emerging science and best practices. Through sister-city travel grants with 27 countries, the symposium facilitates global participation.

“To hear how these clinicians are able to share information and best-practice approaches that differ in various parts of the country and even other countries is really powerful—and they bring that information back to their home hospitals,” Chernawsky said. “The symposium is the best example of how we invest locally but have a global impact.”

More recently, the foundation helped expand clinical trial access through the Chicago Breast Cancer Research Consortium, a collaboration among Northwestern, RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of Chicago.

The consortium was established in 2024, and Lurie Cancer Center is a founding partner, led by William J. Gradishar, MD, the Betsy Bramsen Professor of Breast Oncology. The consortium advances trials that emphasize innovation and patient access, including alleviating barriers to care such as travel and childcare.

“Uniting three major health systems allows us to reach a far more diverse patient population than any one institution could alone. This will strengthen breast cancer science and ensure the treatments we study reflect the needs of the communities we serve,” Dr. Gradishar said.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When detected early, its survival rate is almost 99 percent. Yet it is the leading cause of cancer death for non-Hispanic Black women and Hispanic women. Much is still needed to be done to improve early detection and treatment, access to care, and outcomes for disproportionately affected populations.

Preparing Leaders in Breast Cancer Care

To tackle these remaining hurdles, training the next generation is crucial. Thanks to support from the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation, dozens of graduates have made strides in improving breast cancer treatment and care over the past four decades. To date, the foundation has funded more than 110 fellowships across breast surgery, imaging, oncology, and pathology, including the Lynn Sage Breast Imaging Fellowship and Lynn Sage Breast Surgery Fellowship at Northwestern.

Former fellows are advancing care nationwide: 65 percent remain in clinical practice, 33 percent are driving research, and others lead innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, according to the foundation. The impact is cumulative, as skills developed at Northwestern ripple out to patients and programs across the country.

“The Lynn Sage Fellowship provides an unparalleled training experience,” said Ankita Roy-Adhia, MD, a breast surgery fellow at Northwestern. “It’s a rare opportunity to learn directly from leaders in breast cancer care while building the clinical and research skills that will shape my career. Donor support makes this possible—it allows fellows like me to gain the experience we need to provide answers and reassurance for patients during some of the most uncertain moments of their lives.”

For Chernawsky, that reassurance is personal. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, she credits decades of research for making her condition survivable and tolerable.

“The fact that my diagnosis was survivable and relatively palatable from a quality-of-life standpoint, I definitely attribute to research,” she said.

As the foundation looks ahead, its structure remains deliberately flexible: steadfast in its mission, yet adaptive in strategy. Scholar awards, fellowships, clinical trials, and trainee education comprise the same continuum, designed to move discoveries from the lab to patients’ lives. For Laura Sage, that continuity is the heart of the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation.

“Whatever trauma or sorrow I experienced from the loss of my mom can be directed toward something that has such clear impact,” Laura Sage said. “It’s become my life’s mission to help make sure other women and families don’t go through the same thing.”

For more information about supporting breast cancer research and education, please contact Nicole Langert at 312-503-1656 or nicole.langert@northwestern.edu.

This story was published in the March 2026 issue of The Philanthropist, a newsletter for supporters and friends of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Read past issues here.