William Raveis Real Estate employees started fundraising in 2004 as a personal way to show support for co-workers with cancer, and today they raise money for oncology research across New England, New York, and Florida. Every September their largest event, the William Raveis Ride + Walk, brings together employees, their families, and friends in Norwalk, Conn., for a 5K walk or bicycle rides of 12 or 25 miles. In 2021 they named Dana-Farber as a beneficiary, giving $125,000 for research led by Nobel Laureate William G. Kaelin Jr., MD, the Sidney Farber, MD, Professor of Medicine.

This gift supports research that builds on the discovery by Kaelin and his team that existing thalidomidelike drugs can kill myeloma  cells by degrading proteins previously thought “undruggable.” They are now studying whether these medicines can destroy two key undruggable proteins that many cancers need to proliferate. “If we succeed, this could be a gamechanger,” said Kaelin, “and create a new playbook for disarming other cancer-causing proteins that were previously thought to be untouchable with conventional drugs.”

The mission is more personal than ever. While William “Bill” Raveis and his family have always been proud of their firm’s charitable efforts, the importance of research particularly hit home when close family members developed cancer. “We’ve seen firsthand that the science changes constantly,” said Meghan Raveis, managing director of the William Raveis Charitable Fund. “We’ve seen many stories where even with a difficult prognosis, progression can be managed while new therapies emerge—it makes such a difference.”

Visit RaveisRideWalk.com to register for the September 18, 2022 Ride+Walk!

This article was published on Dana-Farber.org