Friends of Dana-Farber

01/09/2026

In 2025, we had a fabulous time celebrating throughout our Friends: Fun at 49 event series! From “Curing Cabin Fever” at Carrie Nation’s Speakeasy, to getting “Back in the Swing” at TopGolf in Canton, to bringing together smart, passionate women at our In the Bag Luncheon, our community came together all year in support of cancer research and patient care.

We learned so much about the past and future of cancer research from former fellows and fundees at our Funders’ Forum, and we recently kicked off our 50th anniversary year with cocktails at our favorite spot—Chef Jeremy Sewall’s Row 34.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and guests, Friends granted $1,229,311 in FY2025–2026 to fund fellowships, five Friends Investigators, innovative research training and technology, and vital internal programs, including the Art & Environment Program, patient gift bags, emergency and specialty pharmacy assistance, and multiple donor-directed research projects across many cancer types.

We’re excited to build on this momentum with our Friends: Fabulous at 50 celebrations in the year ahead—our anniversary gala on June 6 and In the Bag on September 17—as we continue turning every event into meaningful impact for Dana-Farber patients and families.

Link in bio for event details and registration!

01/02/2026

Wishing everyone a safe, celebratory start to 2026! The Friends have always loved a good party - especially those for a great cause (Dana-Farber!). We hope you’re saving June 6, 2026 for our fabulous 50th birthday party!

12/30/2025

We hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season so far! Our volunteers have once again decked Dana-Farber’s halls for Hanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa, a tradition we have honored for decades. Gathering to decorate for the winter holidays is one of the Friends’ favorite times, and we have just as much fun “un-decking” the halls! Join us on January 4th to help pack away our cheerful decorations for next year!

12/22/2025

11/18/2025

Friends holiday cards are back! Wish your friends and family a bright holiday season and support research and patient care programs through the Friends of Dana-Farber! Thanksgiving and winter holiday cards are available now! https://dana-farberholiday.ourproshop.com/

11/18/2025

This week we’re celebrating holiday hospitality at Dana-Farber.

Every year, just before Thanksgiving, our incredible Friends of Dana-Farber volunteers fill the halls and gathering spaces with festive touches such as decorated trees, menorahs, wreaths, and other signs of the season.

These simple acts of care bring warmth, hope, and joy to patients, families, and staff during challenging times. It’s a beautiful tradition focused on one goal: creating comfort when it’s needed most.

11/07/2025

The Friends of Dana-Farber have always been dedicated to both groundbreaking research and compassionate patient care! We know that true healing means meeting physical, emotional, and social needs simultaneously - and we are incredibly grateful to all who supported our fundraising events throughout the year help provide vital support for our patient services grants.

Our latest grants fund critical support for those who need it most:
- Free legal help for low-income immigrant patients to remove barriers to care
- Emergency aid for food, rent, and transportation
- Treatment support including medication co-pay and scalp cooling assistance

And programs serving all patients:
- Spiritual health care
- Youth patient support groups
- Care bags for those experiencing hair loss from treatment
- Friends Patient Gift Bags
- Friends Art Program/Collection

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11/03/2025

In our 50 years at Dana-Farber, the Friends have consistently focused on supporting patients with breast cancer and research to make their quality of life and treatment protocols better. Having celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness in October we think it is timely to share some of the programs we have proudly supported over the years:
🚙Dana-Farber’s first Mammography Van and later van outreach programs to increase breast cancer screenings among historically underserved populations, including Hispanic, Latina, and Asian women.

🛍️ Friends Place care bags that include products helpful for breast cancer patients as they go through treatment – soft caps for people experiencing hair loss, information on products and services available, gloves to help with neuropathy, and more.
🫶Funding to help some of our most vulnerable patients access scalp cooling in order to keep their hair and maintain their identity even while undergoing treatment.

The Friends were proud to support Heather Parsons, MD, MPH, as she was getting started in breast cancer research who had this to say: “Friends was an incredible resource for my work just as it - and I - was getting off the ground. The funding led to a paper that has laid the foundation for additional work - clinical trials and NIH-funded. Without Friends, this would have been challenging.”

Judith Agudo, PhD, has also received funding to support her immunotherapy research in breast cancer: “I was starting my lab and the funding allowed me to start a very exciting project in breast cancer that otherwise would have not been possible. This grant allowed me to establish models to study breast cancer in the lab and became the seed of a whole breast cancer immunology program in the lab. We are working to improve breast cancer immunotherapy.”

We recently named Tess O’Meara, MD, MHS, Friends Fellow 2025-2026. We’ll be supporting her work to uncover the biological reasons why some patients with breast cancer respond better than others on certain treatment protocols.

10/17/2025

This week in our countdown, we’re reflecting on our incredible Board of Directors.

Fifty years ago, The Friends of Dana-Farber were founded by a group of visionary women who believed in the power of community, compassion, and philanthropy to make a difference. Two of those incredible founders still serve on our board today, a testament to the dedication and spirit that continue to define The Friends.

Over the past five decades, hundreds of women have followed in their footsteps, each bringing their own passion, creativity, and generosity to our mission. Together, they’ve built a lasting legacy of hope, funding critical research, supporting patient care, and creating a community rooted in kindness and purpose.

As we celebrate this milestone 50th year, we reflect with gratitude on all those who have shaped The Friends into what it is today. We honor the women who started it all, the volunteers and donors who keep it thriving, and the next generation who will carry our mission forward.

Here’s to 50 years of friendship, philanthropy, and impact — and to the many more still to come. 💛

10/15/2025

Artist Spotlight: Since 1973, Jesús Matheus has studied the art of printmaking, both in his native Venezuela, as well as Brazil. His paintings and drawings reflect this graphic background through their linear and textural layers.
 
Matheus executes drawings, paintings, and installations that evoke a history culled from the artist’s research on culture and ethnicity, his expeditions throughout South America, and other personal experiences. He cites modern Latin American artists such as Joaquin Torres-Garcia and Wifredo Lam, as well as indigenous and pre-Columbian craft and folk art, as strong influences on his geometrically minimalist artist production.
 
Matheus taught drawing and printmaking at the Armando Reverön Institute in Caracas and has exhibited extensively throughout South America and internationally. The artist’s work is part of several public and private collections, including the Cisneros Foundation and the Carlos Cruz-Diez Museum of Illustration and Design in Venezuela, the Wilfredo Lam Center in Cuba, and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York.
 
Jesús Matheus lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

10/10/2025

This week in our countdown, we’re thrilled to spotlight one of the most meaningful moments of our year, which is awarding new grants to support Dana-Farber’s lifesaving work. 🎉
At our Friends Annual Board Meeting, we proudly presented our annual gift to Dr. Ben Ebert, President of Dana-Farber, alongside remarks from both Dr. Ebert and our Friends Co- Presidents, Helen Lin & Carrie Wilson.
Every dollar we raise goes directly to DFCI through a competitive grant process, helping fund early-stage research, rising investigators, and vital patient care programs that often go unfunded elsewhere.
💥 FY2025 Impact Highlights:
$1.27M raised through fundraising & endowments
$6M contributed directly by our members
$7.27M in total support for DFCI
👉 Swipe to see where this year’s funding is headed in FY2025–26! Visit our website to see a full list of funding.
We’re so grateful to our community - every gift makes a difference. 💙

10/09/2025