Summer 2026
By Lisa Gregory
Malini (known as Mal) and Raj Shanmugaraj have been on a philanthropic journey spanning many years that reflects their shared vision and passion.
One area of philanthropic interest included fueling innovation in cancer treatment and care. Their interest was precipitated by numerous close friends and family who have been diagnosed with cancer, including Mal’s mother in India. Many of these friends are receiving care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and say how much they trust their Dana-Farber doctors, knowing they have their best interests at heart.
Through a process of discovery, Raj and Mal became particularly excited about supporting the cutting-edge cancer research at Dana-Farber, which included attending our 2025 Presidential Symposium. They were impressed by the strategic vision and empowering leadership of Benjamin L. Ebert, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Raj and Mal were also inspired by the work of Dana-Farber’s Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD, Richard and Nancy Lubin Family Chair at Dana-Farber. Bernstein’s epigenetics research focuses on how changes in the way the genome is read can lead to cancer and resistance to cancer therapies. After hearing him speak, the Shanmugarajs visited the Bernstein Lab and met his world-class team, where a sense of possibility was palpable in the lab’s culture.
Listening to Bernstein and Ebert’s vision, Mal and Raj were inspired to make a generous gift of $1 million to establish the Shanmugaraj Epigenetics Cancer Cure Fund supporting epigenetics research at Dana-Farber. The fund will be managed by Bernstein and the gift will accelerate a novel epigenetics study to create new ways of activating the immune system to fight cancer.
Raj and Mal’s gift will help advance a project in Bernstein’s lab, in collaboration with Kathleen Burns, MD, PhD, and Matthew Oser, MD, PhD, to identify ancient viral DNA in cancer genomes, called endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). The group discovered that “waking up” these normally silent viral relics in cancer can trigger the immune system and is associated with favorable immunotherapy responses and overall survival in patients. Bernstein and colleagues will explore whether reanimating silent ERVs in cancer cells enhances current immunotherapies. The study’s initial work is focused on understanding how ERVs are turned on in lung cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Finding ways to reanimate silent ERVs to drive the immune response toward cancer cells would represent a major therapeutic advance to help ease the burden of this disease.
We are excited to support epigenetics cancer research at Dana-Farber. It has the potential to be life changing and its promise for humanity is immense.
Malini and Raj Shanmugaraj
There is also a strong link between Raj’s experience as a technology entrepreneur and the Shanmugarajs’ support for discovery science. Together, they have taken investment risks to fund promising startups and understand the critical need to fund early stage research. This gift reflects their belief in the exceptional talent of Bernstein and his team.
The Shanmugarajs added, “We are excited to support epigenetics cancer research at Dana-Farber. It has the potential to be life changing and its promise for humanity is immense.”