Class News

Henry McCance '64 and Venture Philanthropy: An Investor's Approach to Curing Alzheimer's

November 13, 2010

Henry McCance '64 and his family, along with two other prominent Boston-linked families, have founded the Cure Alzheimer's Fund.

Henry and his co-founders are funding a high-risk but promising approach to finding a cure or preventative for Alzheimer's.

The projects they fund are based on a 4-part roadmap, which they believe is the quickest way to a cure:

1. Find all the genes that contribute to risk for the disease;
2. Figure out which ones contribute the most and have the best prospects for treatment;
3. Determine how these genes actually lead to increased risk;
4. Find the drug therapies that can most safely and effectively disrupt this link.