The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Founded in 1949 as the Robert Roesler de Villiers Foundation by Rudolph and Antoinette de Villiers after their son died of leukemia, the organization renamed itself The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in the 1960s. DeGennaro, a biochemist by training who previously led LLS's research function, has run the Rye Brook, New York-headquartered organization since 2014. The society operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused exclusively on blood cancers — leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and myelodysplastic syndromes — and their precursors. LLS funding spans discovery-stage academic grants, translational research, and a venture-capital-like Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP) that makes equity investments in biotech companies developing blood cancer therapeutics. Confirmed TAP portfolio companies have included Loxo Oncology, acquired by Eli Lilly in 2019, and Juno Therapeutics, acquired by Celgene in 2018. The society also funds clinical trial infrastructure and pediatric cancer networks. Five-year rolling research investment typically exceeds $250 million, with the bulk of capital raised through its Light The Night walks, Team In Training endurance campaigns, and direct corporate donations. Geographic reach extends across North America and Europe, with funded investigators in Israel, Australia, and East Asia. LLS maintains 56 regional chapters across the United States and Canada and a reported staff of over 1,000 people. The organization's total revenue crossed $400 million in fiscal 2022, per public filings. Its patient-support arm runs a clinical-trial navigation center and a co-pay assistance program that covers insurance premiums and out-of-pocket drug costs for 95,000 patients annually. A related vehicle, the LLS PedAL initiative, is a master clinical trial focused on pediatric acute leukemia, launched in partnership with a dozen children's hospitals. No separate foundation or endowment vehicle is publicly disclosed. The society occupies a rare niche: a disease-specific nonprofit that competes directly with institutional venture capital firms for biotech deal flow, using philanthropic capital with a long-duration medical mandate. Its TAP subsidiary operates like a corporate venture arm but with no requirement to return capital to a parent fund — any proceeds from exits recycle into additional research grants. This structure allows LLS to accept equity risk that traditional grantmaking foundations typically avoid, creating a pipeline of therapies that moves from academic bench to commercial acquisition without dilutive financing pressure.