The Embrace Kids Foundation, which has helped children with cancer and blood disorders for close to 25 years, recently gave Rutgers a $1.5 million gift to endow a faculty position in pediatric hematology and oncology. The Embrace Kids Foundation Endowed Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey is the organization’s largest gift ever, and it will accelerate pediatric research in precision medicine. The gift helps fulfill part of a matching donation initiative under Our Rutgers, Our Future, the $1 billion fundraising campaign of the Rutgers University Foundation. The $1.5 million gift completes the $3 million investment needed to support the new endowed chair.

The endowed chair is in memory of Barton Kamen, the chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at the Cancer Institute, who died in 2012 at age 63 after battling cancer. The Embrace Kids Foundation has given gifts of more than $2.5 million to other units that are part of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.