Huntsman Cancer Institute was founded with a pledge of $100 million of personal wealth from Jon Huntsman Sr., a philanthropist and businessman. To date, Huntsman has donated more than $250 million of his own money since Huntsman Cancer Institute was established.[1]Mary Beckerle is HCI's chief executive officer and director.[2]
In November 2013, Huntsman donated an additional $50 million for the construction of a new research building dedicated to researching children's cancer and cancers that run in families. The Primary Children's and Families' Research Center opened in 2017.[3]
In 2015, the National Cancer Institute awarded HCI Comprehensive Cancer Center status.[4]
Research
Scientists at the institute aim to understand cancer at a molecular and genetic level and strive to find new and more effective ways to treat this disease. A treatment approach based on genetic knowledge allows for more targeted, individualized cancer therapies.
Research programs
The center's research is supported by a Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute, which subsidizes cancer research performed by more than 130 members of the Cancer Center.[5]
Sponsored Content controversy
In 2017, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group was fined 13.3 million US-$ by the FCC for not properly designating paid advertising content by the Huntsman Cancer Institute as such.[6] The advertisements, either in the form of 60- or 90-second shorts or half-hour standalone programs, were shown over 1700 times in SBG-affiliated broadcasts.[7] In a statement, Sinclair denounced the fine, which at that point was the largest ever imposed by the FCC,[8] as "unreasonable".[9]
