Rockville Centre's Ken Pribil Jr. Foundation donates $15K for cancer research

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The Ken Pribil Jr. Foundation recently made its fifth annual Sarcoma Research Grant in the amount of $15,000 to support targeted angiosarcoma cancer research being performed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. This grant fulfills the organization’s mission of commemorating the life of Kenny Pribil Jr., a 19-year-old from Rockville Centre who died from angiosarcoma in 2006, through annual grants that support sarcoma cancer research.

“We are proud to support angiosarcoma cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering,” said Kevin Pribil, president of the Ken Pribil Jr. Foundation’s Board of Directors. “It’s a rare disease that is near and dear to our hearts, and we hope to continue this relationship and make a difference in people’s lives.”

This 2018 Ken Pribil Jr. Sarcoma Cancer Research Grant supports the research of Dr. Cristina R. Antonescu, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology Service and one of the leading experts in angiosarcoma, a sarcoma subtype that forms in the inner lining of blood vessels. Her research is focused on the molecular mechanisms driving these tumors, how and why resistance begins and genetic underpinnings that can be used to target angiosarcomas.

Since its inception in 2006, the Rockville Centre-based foundation has given research grants to benefit sarcoma research at various institutions, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in Bronx, N.Y., for the past three years. It has also supported business-focused undergraduate study by giving college scholarships to 17 graduating students from South Side High School.

To learn more about the foundation, visit www.kenpribiljr.org.