Donate
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Research
  4. /
  5. Evan Schumacher Fund

The Evan Schumacher Fund for Rare Cancer Research

Evan Schumacher
Decorative Sparkles

About the Fund

The Evan Schumacher Fund for Rare Cancer Research supports bright young scientists taking the risks necessary to identify effective treatments for cholangiocarcinoma. Established in 2016, it identifies and funds holistic, cutting-edge research that improves options for people with cholangiocarcinoma. To date, the Fund has issued $150,000 in targeted research grants.

Donate to the Evan Schumacher Fund
Shumacher 1
TargetCancer Icon, White

About Evan Schumacher

Evan Schumacher was a beloved entrepreneur, husband, and father who lost his life to cholangiocarcinoma after a fierce fight to pursue new immunotherapy treatments for himself and others. Evan’s resilience and strength in the face of his illness inspired his friends, family, and colleagues to come together and form the Evan Schumacher Fund to honor his legacy and continue his work. The Fund aims to take the same energy, drive, and optimism that Evan brought to his life towards finding effective treatments for rare cancers.

Evan Schumacher Headshot
Learn more about Evan Schumacher

A serial entrepreneur who founded four Internet companies, Evan had the extraordinary talent to spot new trends. Alongside his well-recognized business savvy, he was known for his incredible people skills, energy, optimism, and his ability to engage everyone whose life he touched. All those who knew Evan, from employees and investors to friends and family, were magnetized by his unusual combination of incredible ambition matched with unending kindness. Evan believed that anything could be accomplished with hard work, drive, and faith in oneself and others.

As he approached his 45th birthday on April 8, 2014, Evan was in his prime. He was chief commercial officer for Echo Global Logistics, the public company in Chicago that bought his company, Open Mile, and he was busy commuting from Boston. Married nearly four years, he had a lovely home with his wife, alongside their two-year old son and twin newborn girls.

Evan, who had never spent a day in his life in the hospital, was diagnosed with Stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma with lung metastases two weeks after his daughters were born.

He approached cancer in the same way that he led his life, with resilience and amazing strength. He was determined to beat his cancer despite the lack of available treatments.

As he started chemotherapy, Evan searched intensely for the latest treatments. Using his strong networking skills, he searched worldwide until identifying a clinical trial that used novel immunotherapy drugs. Although it took more than a year to find and enter the trial, the immunotherapy treatment significantly reduced the tumors in his lungs, surprising his doctors. Though his health continued to deteriorate, eventually forcing him to exit the trial, Evan felt vindicated in pursuing the new immunotherapy treatments.

He died 19 months after his diagnosis.

Donate to the Evan Schumacher Fund

The Evan Schumacher Fund for Rare Cancer Research is managed and advised by TargetCancer Foundation.

Previous Grant Recipients

2022: Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD - Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

Analyzing collections of human cholangiocarcinoma samples

In 2022, the Evan Schumacher Fund for Rare Cancer Research was proud to provide its third grant of $50,000. This new grant was made in support of a research team led by Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

This project analyzes existing collections of human cholangiocarcinoma samples as well as genetically engineered mouse models created by the Bardeesy Lab, using technology that allows researchers to examine specific features of the tumor cells, immune cells and all of the other components of the tumor.

By analyzing a large number of tumor specimens and mouse models, the project seeks to gain unprecedented insights into how different gene mutations and various risk factors determine the specific biological features of cholangiocarcinoma, leading to a better understanding of how to effectively treat patients with cholangiocarcinoma in an individualized and personalized way.

This grant was selected and awarded after evaluating multiple projects in the cholangiocarcinoma research space, with scientific review from TargetCancer Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.

 

2020: Liron Bar-Peled, PhD - Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

Mapping the landscape of protein druggability in cholangiocarcinoma

In 2020, the Evan Schumacher Fund for Rare Cancer Research was proud to provide its second grant of $50,000. This grant was made in support of Liron Bar-Peled, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School.

While many new treatments are being developed that target specific genomic mutations driving cholangiocarcinoma, there is still a need to develop drugs for patients who do not have these mutations. Dr. Bar-Peled’s work uses advanced chemical proteomic technology to identify proteins which may present new opportunities for treatment. This grant supports Dr. Bar-Peled’s efforts to map the landscape of protein druggability in cholangiocarcinoma, creating a launching pad for the development of new therapies to treat cholangiocarcinoma.

In the above video, Dr. Bar-Peled discusses his work supported by the Schumacher Fund.

2018: James Cleary, MD and Srivatsan Raghavan, MD, PhD - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Building a cholangiocarcinoma research program at DFCI and contributing to the first FDA-approved targeted therapy for cholangiocarcinoma

In 2018, The Evan Schumacher Fund for Rare Cancer Research awarded its first grant in the amount of $50,000 to James Cleary, MD and Srivatsan Raghavan, MD, PhD, at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston, MA.

This grant catalyzed efforts to build a cholangiocarcinoma research program at DFCI by Dr. Cleary, a leader in early phase cholangiocarcinoma clinical trials, and Dr. Raghavan, a physician-scientist interested in developing novel therapeutic approaches to cholangiocarcinoma.

“Your family and friends are the catalyst that has inspired all of this cholangiocarcinoma research at DFCI. We greatly hope that this momentum that we now have in cholangiocarcinoma will translate into better treatment options and outcomes for patients with this terrible disease. Thanks again for everything you have done for our research efforts. It has made an incredible difference.”
– Dr. James Cleary

This grant catalyzed a unique and powerful cross-institution collaboration with researchers and clinicians at Massachusetts General Hospital which remains in place presently.

In 2020, the work of Drs. Cleary and Raghavan contributed to the first FDA-approved targeted therapy for cholangiocarcinoma. This drug, Pemazyre (pemigatinib), was developed by Incyte, a close partner of TargetCancer Foundation.