News

A $300,000 grant from Exhale – The Family Caregiver Initiative will allow the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute to continue providing its Give Yourself a Break Today program, a healing arts program for family caregivers and cancer thrivers. This gift supports the program for three years in partnership with other community groups. In Michigan alone, there are over 1.7 million family caregivers. Cancer is an incredibly relentless disease that takes a toll on patients tremendously. Cancer does not just...

Regina Doxtader, vice president and chief financial officer at the  Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute , has been named to Crain’s Detroit’s 2025  Notable Leaders in Finance . Doxtader joined Karmanos in 2022. With over 35 years of health care financial leadership experience, she provides direction and oversight of financial planning, budgeting, and capital evaluation, as well as strategic financial insights related to growth initiatives, cost efficiency opportunities and network developmen...

Arnold D’Ambrosio , chief development officer at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute , has been named to Crain’s Detroit’s 2025 Notable Leaders in Philanthropy . D’Ambrosio joined Karmanos in 2023 and leads fundraising strategy and execution. He has been instrumental in securing support for the organization's continued success by fostering strong relationships with corporate and community leaders, charitable foundations, board members, and volunteers. Since joining Karmanos, D’Ambrosio has success...

Cinzia Caparso, Ph.D., RN, an assistant professor in the Wayne State University College of Nursing and a member of the Population Studies and Disparities Research (PSDR) Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute , has been named one of 12 national honorees for the prestigious 2025 Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Science Honor by the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR).  This annual honor recognizes early-stage investigators ...

Wei-Zen Wei, Ph.D., founding co-Chair of the Immunology Focus Group, member of the Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Research Program , and renowned faculty member at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been honored with the appointment to the rank of Distinguished Service Professor. Dr. Wei, who is also the Herrick Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, is recognized for her extraordinary service outside her discipline and outside WSU that broug...

A Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University (WSU) research scientist and assistant professor, Husain Yar Khan, Ph.D., presented an abstract on “Targeting XPO1 to Enhance Durability of Response of MRTX1133 in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma” at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago. The study investigates how to improve the durability of response to KRAS inhibitors by combining them with the XPO1 inhibitor. In addition, Dr. Khan was ...

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute has been awarded $459,010 for continued research in treating cancers with radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Leaders from U CAN-CER VIVE Foundation, an organization that supports cancer research in Michigan, delivered the check to Karmanos researchers in March. U CAN-CER VIVE was co-founded by Ryan and Kelley LaFontaine. The funds will help open clinical trial studies in cancer treatment of breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers, and continue studies in l...

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) has been named a 2025 Hometown Health Hero by the Michigan Public Health Week Partnership. This award recognizes people and organizations in Michigan working to improve the health of their communities. Leading community outreach and engagement efforts for Karmanos, COE monitors the cancer burden in the Karmanos 46-county catchment area and engages the community and Karmanos scientists in strategies to reduce th...

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute has been named one of 168 medical centers in the country to which Optum recommends its payers refer their clients for blood and bone marrow transplants. With more than 3,000 payers using Optum in the U.S., a trusted information and technology-enabled health services business that delivers integrated solutions for health systems, more than 62 million people benefit from its tools. The company’s Centers for Excellence networks recognize “clinically superior provid...

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute has been named one of 37 cancer centers nationwide and the only cancer center in Michigan to which Optum recommends its payers refer their clients for oncology care. With more than 3,000 payers using Optum in the U.S., a trusted information and technology-enabled health services business that delivers integrated solutions for health systems, more than 62 million people benefit from its tools. The company’s Centers of Excellence networks recognize clinically supe...