Providence Swedish Secures Kuni Foundation Grants to Advance Targeted Cancer Research

These grants will enable researchers to explore pressing oncology challenges, including treatment resistance and cancer prevalence in non-smoking populations.
The Providence Swedish Cancer Institute received three Imagination Grants from the Kuni Foundation to support critical cancer research on lung, ovarian, and breast cancers.
These grants will enable researchers to explore pressing oncology challenges, including treatment resistance and cancer prevalence in non-smoking populations.
Focus Areas: Lung, Ovarian, and Breast Cancer
Dr. Sid Devarakonda’s project investigates lung cancer in individuals who have never smoked, particularly women of Asian descent. His work aims to identify “the mutational drivers of these cancers so we can target therapies to treat them.”
Dr. Charles Drescher is focused on high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the most common form of the disease. “Dr. Drescher’s research tests how well a method called proteomics can predict how patients will respond to treatments and how to customize treatments for each person.”
Dr. Hank Kaplan, who has retired from clinical care, is studying how breast cancer spreads and resists treatment. His research examines DNA changes to understand how cancer evolves and bypasses therapies.
Backed by Infrastructure and Data Access
The grants coincide with expanded capabilities at the Paul G. Allen Research Center, enabling deeper clinical and translational research. Providence Swedish’s access to one of the world’s largest electronic medical records databases further supports these efforts by allowing researchers to analyze diverse patient outcomes.
Dr. Ashwani Rajput, regional executive medical director, stated, “Providence Swedish Cancer Institute is grateful to the Kuni Foundation for their visionary approach to advancing cancer research in our region. With these Imagination Grants, our researchers will tackle some of the most urgent and difficult questions in cancer to improve patient outcomes.”
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