Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
City of Hope, TGen Institute Form Alliance for Cancer Research
November 30,
2016 by Larry Thomas in Community / Charitable Support, Industry 
City of Hope, a cancer and diabetes research and treatment center that has been supported by the home furnishings industry for many years, has formed an alliance with the TGen Institute, a Phoenix non-profit that has been a leader in biomedical research.
TGen, which is short for Translational Genomics Research, also has a home furnishings industry connection through the Seena Magowitz Foundation, an entity founded by mattress retailer Roger Magowitz to honor his mother, who died of pancreatic cancer.
The foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for pancreatic cancer research in recent years, and much of it has gone to the TGen Institute.
City of Hope officials said the alliance enables both institutes to complement each other in their common areas of research and patient care, with City of Hope providing a significant clinical setting to advance scientific discoveries made by TGen.
City of Hope is a pioneer in the fields of bone marrow transplantation, hematologic malignancies, and select solid tumors and diabetes, while TGen is a leader in applying genomic analysis and bioinformatics to cancer drug development.
Together, City of Hope and TGen will transform the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer and other life-threatening diseases, officials said, noting that the alliance will accelerate the speed with which scientists and medical staff convert research discoveries into cures for patients.
“Patients want choices and access to the newest and most advanced care available,” said Robert W. Stone, president and CEO of City of Hope. “City of Hope and TGen share a common vision for improving patient outcomes, and our collaboration will speed cancer cures by rapidly advancing discoveries to define high-risk populations, identifying targets for prevention and treatment, and promoting initiatives that close health equity gaps.”
Under terms of the alliance, the TGen Institute will become a subsidiary of City of Hope’s parent organization, but will retain its headquarters in Phoenix.
“This alliance will enable us to fully deploy genomic-enabled medicine within a modern health care system to create a disruptive change in the practice of medicine. Our aim is to not only navigate this changing field, but lead it,” said Jeffrey M. Trent, president and research director for TGen.
William Post, TGen board chairman, will join City of Hope’s board of directors, and Trent will remain president and research director at TGen and will report to City of Hope’s CEO Robert Stone. Stone has accepted a seat on the TGen board and will serve as vice chairman.