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Contact: LeeAnn Conner, [email protected]

Fundraising across the world will secure additional $1M through a matching grant from the Petersen Foundation

August 15, 2019 (Hobart, WI): The EHE Foundation and Cleveland Clinic received a major gift from the Margie and Robert E. Petersen Foundation. One million dollars will be donated to Cleveland Clinic to support EHE research conducted by Brian Rubin, MD, PhD, Chair of the Robert J. Tomsich Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Institute and a member of the Cancer Biology Program of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. Dr. Rubin is a global leader in Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma (EHE) research and this generous gift will support an ambitious research effort to develop effective therapies to treat the disease.

Significantly, the Margie and Robert E. Petersen Foundation also has agreed to match an additional $1 million in research funding if The EHE Foundation can raise another $1 million over the next three years. This fundraising will be spearheaded worldwide by Cleveland Clinic, EHE Foundation (US), EHE Rare Cancer Charity (UK) and EHE Rare Cancer Foundation (Australia). All funds raised and matched will enable Dr. Rubin to hand-pick a research team from around the globe that will complement his research. This fundraising partnership will catalyze the already energized grassroots fundraising of The EHE Foundation’s passionate supporters worldwide while breaking ground on vital EHE research. Donate now to the EHE Foundation, and your generous gift will be matched by the Petersen Foundation.

“We are grateful for this gift from the Petersen Foundation, which solidifies our relationship with The EHE Foundation and provides much needed funds for EHE research. The matching funds are particularly vital as they will strengthen our worldwide collaborative research group as well as The EHE Foundation,” said Dr. Rubin. 

“This gift will greatly intensify the EHE research and collaboration efforts by Dr. Rubin. With very little public funding available for EHE research, a private gift of this size with the potential of matching up to an additional $1 million will substantially propel our research and fundraising efforts,” said Julie Wahl, President of The EHE Foundation.

EHE is an unpredictable, rare vascular cancer. Similar to many other cancers, EHE is caused by a genetic malfunction that encodes a unique cancer-causing protein. Dr. Rubin and his colleagues are studying this protein to discover vulnerabilities that can be exploited therapeutically. 

The Margie and Robert E. Petersen Foundation’s generous gift will allow Dr. Rubin and other collaborative researchers to continue their quest to treat and cure EHE. Automobile publishing giant Robert E. Petersen owned magazines such as Motor Trend and Hot Rod Magazine and founded the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.