top of page

Capture 
the Good News

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and achievements our grantees in the fields of health, science, and education.

​SpotitEarly and Hackensack Meridian Health Partner to Advance Early Cancer Detection With Cancer Sniffing Dogs

September 30, 2025

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. /BUSINESS WIRE/  -​​ ​ SpotitEarly, an early cancer detection startup, has launched a groundbreaking research collaboration with the Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine at Hackensack Meridian Health. The partnership begins with the PINK Study, a double-blind breast cancer trial led by Dr. Elias Obeid, medical director of the Hennessy Institute, and will later expand to other cancers such as lung and prostate. By combining the olfactory abilities of trained dogs with AI-powered analysis, this initiative positions the Hennessy Institute and HMH at the forefront of innovative, prevention-focused cancer detection.

​​​​

READ  MORE 

CLIFTON, NJ /BINJE/  -​​ ​ Imagine treating cancer before it starts. That’s the goal. And it’s more than a dream.

It’s becoming a reality at the Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine, which is finding ways to test and detect cancerous activity at its earliest stages — even before it starts. And, more importantly, before it returns.

The facility, located at the Hackensack Meridian Health & Wellness Center in Clifton — thanks to a generous donation from the Mike & Patti Hennessy Foundation, provides next-level care for cancer, according to Dr. Andre Goy, the director of the facility.

​​​​

READ  MORE 

June 30, 2025

​New Hackensack Meridian Health Wellness Center

CLIFTON, NJ /ONNJ/ -​ Hackensack Meridian Health is boosting healthcare in Clifton, with the grand opening of its new Health & Wellness Center on Metro Boulevard.​

​​

READ  MORE

June 27, 2025

​HMH Wellness Center in Clifton: A ‘concierge’ approach to medicine

CLIFTON, NJ /BINJE/  -​ "The Hennessey Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine, which will be able to test and detect pre-cancer activity, will put its headquarters here, thanks to a generous donation from the Mike & Patti Hennessy Foundation."​

​

READ MORE

September 30, 2024

AI 'liquid biopsies' using cell-free DNA, protein biomarkers, could aid early detection of ovarian cancer

Peer-Reviewed Publication / Johns Hopkins Medicine -​ A blood test that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect cancer-related genetic changes and protein biomarkers could help screen women for early signs of ovarian cancer, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in collaboration with several other institutions in the United States and Europe. The study, published Sept. 30 in the journal Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, used AI-powered analyses of DNA fragments and two protein biomarkers to identify women with ovarian cancer. The two protein biomarkers, called cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), were previously identified as ovarian cancer biomarkers but, on their own, could not reliably detect ovarian cancer. However, combining these biomarkers with AI-driven detection of cancer-associated patterns of DNA fragments in the circulation improved screening accuracy and helped distinguish cancerous tumors from benign growths.​

 

READ MORE

September 11, 2024

​Diocese of Trenton, Department of Catholic Schools, Receives Multi-Year Grant to Establish Designated Fund for Catholic School Teachers

TRENTON, N.J., /Newswire.com/ - The Diocese of Trenton’s Department of Catholic Schools has been awarded a multi-year grant to establish a designated fund supporting teacher stipends in local Catholic schools. This initiative reflects the Diocese’s commitment to recognizing excellence among K-8 educators and fostering community collaboration for successful fundraising efforts.

​​

READ MORE

​August 20, 2024

Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center First in State to Launch a Comprehensive Program to Prevent and Pre-empt Cancer at its new Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine (HICAP)

Hackensack, N.J. /PRNewswire/  - Hackensack Meridian Health's (HMH) John Theurer Cancer Center today announces the launch of its cancer risk and early cancer detection program, designed to better identify the risk of cancer in individuals and enable earlier diagnosis. Hackensack Meridian Health’s new Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine rolls out a new cancer risk assessment. The new program is offered at HMH's Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine (HICAP) located at the recently established Cancer Center at Totowa on the St. Joseph's Health campus in Totowa, NJ, and will expand to its headquarters in our new ambulatory facility in Clifton, New Jersey near Hackensack Meridian's School of Medicine and Center for Discovery and Innovation in early 2025.  

​

READ MORE

​August 6, 2023

Summer Instruction Helps Catholic School Students Get a Head Start

Trenton Monitor  – "The Summer Enrichment program, run at little-to-no cost to families, came about through a donation from The Mike & Patti Hennessy Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting various life-improving ventures in the areas of health care, educational opportunities and local Christian educational programs.

The foundation “was excited to offer the Diocese of Trenton elementary schools the opportunity to develop summer programming to support COVID-19 learning loss,” said Bonnie Milecki, assistant superintendent of Catholic schools. 

READ MORE

​July 18, 2023

New Institute Envisions a World Without Cancer

HealthU - “We feel extremely grateful and fortunate for the Hennessy family's confidence in our mission to expand beyond cancer to the pre-cancer and post-cancer space,” says Andre Goy, M.D., M.S., chairman of John Theurer Cancer Center, chief of Lymphoma and physician-in-chief for Oncology. “The precancer space includes reduction of risk factors through lifestyle changes and early detection. In the post-cancer space, the goal is to prevent recurrence either by managing measurable minimal residual disease (MRD) through additional therapy or detecting and managing recurrence much earlier."  

READ MORE

​June 22, 2023

H2Bub1 loss is an early contributor to clear cell ovarian cancer progression

JCI Insight – June 22, 2023  – Epigenetic aberrations, including posttranslational modifications of core histones, are major contributors to cancer. Here, we define the status of histone H2B monoubiquitylation (H2Bub1) in clear cell ovarian carcinoma (CCOC), low-grade serous carcinoma, and endometrioid carcinomas. We report that clear cell carcinomas exhibited profound loss, with nearly all cases showing low or negative H2Bub1 expression. Moreover, we found that H2Bub1 loss occurred in endometriosis and atypical endometriosis, which are established precursors to CCOCs. To examine whether dysregulation of a specific E3 ligase contributes to the loss of H2Bub1, we explored expression of ring finger protein 40 (RNF40), ARID1A, and UBR7 in the same case cohort. Loss of RNF40 was significantly and profoundly correlated with loss of H2Bub1. Using genome-wide DNA methylation profiles of 230 patients with CCOC, we identified hypermethylation of RNF40 in CCOC as a likely mechanism underlying the loss of H2Bub1. Finally, we demonstrated that H2Bub1 depletion promoted cell proliferation and clonogenicity in an endometriosis cell line. Collectively, our results indicate that H2Bub1 plays a tumor-suppressive role in CCOCs and that its loss contributes to disease progression.

Ferrari et al.  H2Bub1 loss is an early contributor to clear cell ovarian cancer progression. JCI Insight.  2023; 8(12):e164995. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.164995 

READ MORE

​April 11, 2023

A World Without Cancer is an Institute Away

Hackensack Meridian Health - Inspired by his wife’s tenacity and resilience as she fought recurrent ovarian and breast cancer, Mike Hennessy made it his life’s purpose to help improve the life of patients with cancer. As a medical publisher, he never stopped seeking opportunities to educate health care providers and patients to advance oncology care. For Patti Hennessy, her cancer journey led her to challenge oncologists, nurses and other health professionals to take more detailed family histories, to expand the options for individualized therapy and most importantly, to think outside of the box.  Patti’s journey with breast and ovarian cancer ended with her passing at age 59, nearly 10 years after she was diagnosed. But her advocacy and vision, shared by her husband Mike who died two years after her in 2021, will live on through Hackensack Meridian Health’s Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine: ICAP.

READ MORE

​March 2, 2023

Groundbreaking Grant to John Theurer Cancer Center Will Establish the Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine

Edison, NJ –  A transformational  grant to Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center from the Mike & Patti Hennessy Foundation, together with Shannon H. Pulaski, Ashley Hennessy Talamo, Michael Hennessy and Christopher Hennessy, in memory of their parents Mike and Patti Hennessy and in gratitude for the care provided by Andre Goy, M.D., M.S., chairman and director, chief of Lymphoma, and director of Clinical and Translational Cancer Research at John Theurer Cancer Center, will establish the Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine. To be located within a new, planned ambulatory facility in Clifton, New Jersey near Hackensack Meridian’s School of Medicine and Center for Discovery and Innovation, the Hennessy Institute’s focus will be on reducing cancer, improving outcomes and preventing recurrence.  

READ MORE

​January 27, 2023

LINE-1 OR1p as a candidate biomarker in high grade serous ovarian carcinoma

Scientific Reports – January 27, 2023 – Long interspersed element 1 (LINE‑1) open reading frame 1 protein (ORF1p) expression is a common feature of many cancer types, including high‑grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). Here, we report that ORF1p is not only expressed but also released by ovarian cancer and primary tumor cells. Immuno‑multiple reaction monitoring‑mass spectrometry assays showed that released ORF1p is confidently detectable in conditioned media, ascites, and patients’ plasma, implicating ORF1p as a potential biomarker. Interestingly, ORF1p expression is detectable in fallopian tube (FT) epithelial precursors of HGSOC but not in benign FT, suggesting that ORF1p expression in an early event in HGSOC development. Finally, treatment of FT cells with DNA methyltransferase inhibitors led to robust expression and release of ORF1p, validating the regulatory role of DNA methylation in LINE‑1 repression in non‑tumorigenic tissue. 

READ MORE
 

​April 28, 2022

After $9 million science center renovation and addition, Rider dedicates the building

Lawrenceville, NJ  –  The 9,500-square-foot addition features a number of new labs and innovative spaces for Rider's expanding science programs. On the first floor addition to the building, there is a new greenhouse, a cybersecurity lab, a software engineering lab, an anatomy/physiology lab and accessible restrooms. Also in the space are a number of elements to inspire collaboration and discussion among students and faculty such as an open floor plan with grouped, informal seating and writable walls. The second floor features a newly constructed artificial intelligence space. "Rider's science programs are rapidly expanding and this project will allow us to meet the needs of our growing curriculum, preparing our students to enter a competitive workforce or pursue graduate studies," Bidle says. 
 
READ MORE

bottom of page