Stony Brook Cancer Center Receives $335,000 Strohm Pledge for 9/11 Responders' Cancers

The Strohm Foundation pledged $335,000 to Stony Brook Cancer Center to create an endowment aimed at supporting cancer research, with a specific emphasis on cancers affecting 9/11 first responders. Stony Brook announced the pledge on January 29, 2026, framing it as targeted philanthropic support for a group with long-standing health needs across Long Island and beyond.

The Strohm gift arrives amid a surge of private support for the Cancer Center that university leaders say will expand molecular imaging and metabolomics capabilities at Stony Brook Medicine. Separate donor commitments from Kavita and Lalit Bahl include an initial $3.5 million gift to buy a cyclotron and a new $10.25 million pledge to seed an imaging and metabolomics program and to recruit faculty. Those larger gifts are intended to propel translational research and strengthen ties between clinical care and laboratory science at Stony Brook’s campuses.

The Bahls’ initial $3.5 million will fund a cyclotron, an instrument used to create novel tracers for PET scanning, a technique that allows molecular imaging within the human body. The $10.25 million pledge is described as enabling the Stony Brook Cancer Center to conduct “revolutionary research and recruit top faculty experts in all related fields.” Planned Phase I hires include an oncologic imaging researcher, a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) researcher and a Magnetic Resonance (MR) spectroscopy researcher. Phase II will add a faculty hire in Experimental Therapeutics and further research funding.

University leaders framed the combined investments as foundational to new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. “This gift is transformational to the Stony Brook Cancer Center, as it will add momentum to our research endeavors in cancer and impact our patients,” said Dr. Hannun. “Metabolomics is a relatively new frontier in cancer research. It represents one of the most promising approaches in cancer therapy, as it enables scientists to target pathways not previously thought possible with cancer drugs.” Stony Brook University President Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. added, “These gifts establish the Stony Brook Cancer Center as home to a revolutionary new metabolomics and imaging center devoted to cancer research which will lead to translational breakthroughs. The totality of these two incredible gifts from Kavita and Lalit Bahl, both generous and visionary, will have a decades-long impact on cancer research, medical treatments and patient care. At the hub of all this is our Cancer Center connecting a multi-disciplinary team that spans across main campus and the Medicine campus.”

For Suffolk County residents, the Strohm pledge underscores ongoing attention to the health of 9/11 responders and their families who live and work in the region. An endowed fund focused on responder cancers aims to provide sustained support for investigators and pilot projects that could improve early detection, treatment and long-term outcomes. As researchers recruit new faculty and bring cyclotron-enabled tracer science online, the next steps will be translating those tools into clinical trials and community-facing programs that benefit local patients and first responders.