Connell and O'Reilly Families
When Vin O’Reilly and Bill Connell first met as Boston College commuters in the 1950s, they had no idea of the effect their friendship would have on the world of cancer medicine. Even after college, Connell—one of Boston’s first venture capitalists—and O’Reilly—a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Trustee and leading accountant at a major Boston firm—remained close.
During O’Reilly’s tenure as Dana-Farber’s Chairman of the Board in the 1990s, he was intrigued by a new lab Jerome Ritz, MD, was forming at Dana-Farber to process and manufacture cells for therapies like stem cell transplantation. As the demand for cellular therapies grew, so did the need for a more spacious and modern facility, and O’Reilly championed the cause.
O’Reilly told his longtime friend Connell about his interest the fast-growing lab and Connell, seeing its obvious value to cancer research and treatment, made the inaugural gift to formally establish and modernize the Connell and O’Reilly Families Cell Manipulation Core Facility (CMCF)—which he named to honor both families. When Connell died of melanoma in 2001, O’Reilly honored him by remaining a champion of the CMCF until his death in 2019.
“Bill Connell and Vin O’Reilly believed that cell therapies would play an important role in the treatment of cancer, and their vision provided Dana-Farber with a new laboratory that could process different types of cells for our patients, including blood stem cells and donor lymphocytes for patients undergoing stem cell transplantation, and vaccines to boost patients’ immune response to their own tumors,” said Ritz, executive director of the CMCF. “Vin’s focus was always on patient safety. He wanted to ensure that the products that we provided for patients were processed by well-trained staff in a very safe and clean environment and met the highest quality standards.”
In 2018, the CMCF moved into a new state-of-the-art cell processing facility at Dana-Farber that doubled its capacity to manufacture cells for patients, making it one of the largest academic centers for production of cell therapies in the world. This, said Ritz, will ensure Connell and O’Reilly’s efforts on behalf of Dana-Farber continue.
“Their focus on quality,” said Ritz, “is a legacy that we will always keep in mind as we continue to develop new cellular therapies for patients with cancer and other diseases.”
During O’Reilly’s tenure as Dana-Farber’s Chairman of the Board in the 1990s, he was intrigued by a new lab Jerome Ritz, MD, was forming at Dana-Farber to process and manufacture cells for therapies like stem cell transplantation. As the demand for cellular therapies grew, so did the need for a more spacious and modern facility, and O’Reilly championed the cause.
O’Reilly told his longtime friend Connell about his interest the fast-growing lab and Connell, seeing its obvious value to cancer research and treatment, made the inaugural gift to formally establish and modernize the Connell and O’Reilly Families Cell Manipulation Core Facility (CMCF)—which he named to honor both families. When Connell died of melanoma in 2001, O’Reilly honored him by remaining a champion of the CMCF until his death in 2019.
“Bill Connell and Vin O’Reilly believed that cell therapies would play an important role in the treatment of cancer, and their vision provided Dana-Farber with a new laboratory that could process different types of cells for our patients, including blood stem cells and donor lymphocytes for patients undergoing stem cell transplantation, and vaccines to boost patients’ immune response to their own tumors,” said Ritz, executive director of the CMCF. “Vin’s focus was always on patient safety. He wanted to ensure that the products that we provided for patients were processed by well-trained staff in a very safe and clean environment and met the highest quality standards.”
In 2018, the CMCF moved into a new state-of-the-art cell processing facility at Dana-Farber that doubled its capacity to manufacture cells for patients, making it one of the largest academic centers for production of cell therapies in the world. This, said Ritz, will ensure Connell and O’Reilly’s efforts on behalf of Dana-Farber continue.
“Their focus on quality,” said Ritz, “is a legacy that we will always keep in mind as we continue to develop new cellular therapies for patients with cancer and other diseases.”