In 2001 the Executive Board of the Foundation announced its intention to raise $500,000 over five years to establish the Harold E. Eisenberg Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Fund at Northwestern University. This aggressive 5 year campaign will secure perpetual funding for cutting-edge clinical research programs for patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

Though gastrointestinal cancers are among the most aggressive and deadliest cancers, they are often the least publicly discussed, resulting in fewer funds being directed toward gastrointestinal cancer studies. In fact, primary cancer of the liver is the most common malignancy worldwide and colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Recognizing this imperative need for gastrointestinal cancer research, the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation partnered with Dr. Al Benson and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine to develop treatment strategies. Dr. Benson directs and coordinates the activities of Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the chair of Northwestern's Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and ECOG Gastrointestinal Committee, and directs Northwestern's program in gastrointestinal cancer. Dr. Benson also serves as President of the Illinois Medical Oncology Society. Most recently, Dr. Benson was experimenting with the generation of a native human angiostantin, which has been shown to inhibit cancer growth in many animal models by inhibiting new blood vessels that are required for tumors to grow and spread.

In 2003 the Chicago and New York Associate Boards combined their efforts and announced their intention to raise $100,000 over the next two years to establish a joint research experiment with Northwestern University and New York University. The two Associate Boards are working with Dr. Benson in Chicago and Dr. Hochster in New York to fund an experiment where people in Chicago and people in New York are benefiting from cutting-edge research. By formulating brief two-year experiments, we hope to unite patients in Chicago and patients in New York with the hopes of advancing gastrointestinal cancer research.