35 Years of Swim Across America

High Risk, High Reward

On August 1, 1987, a dozen ambitious swimmers gathered on the North Shore of Long Island to participate in a relay swim across the Long Island Sound. Five hours and 17 miles later, the team arrived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, giving birth to what is known today as Swim Across America (SAA). 

Over the past 35 years, SAA charity swims have raised more than $100 million for research, clinical trials, and patient programs at the country’s top cancer institutions. MSK has been a longtime beneficiary of SAA, thanks in part to the annual Larchmont and Glen Cove swim events in New York, which have directed $18 million to MSK.

SAA funds young investigator grants at MSK. These prestigious awards help spark scientific innovation and equip talented researchers with the experiences they need to launch successful careers. “Our goal has always been to support the best and brightest junior scientists at MSK, and we’ll continue to fund their bold research as part of the SAA mission,” says Matt Vossler, SAA Co-Founder and Board Member. One of the first MSK researchers to receive support from SAA was medical oncologist Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, Lloyd J. Old/Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair in Clinical Investigation. 

Dr. Wolchok came to MSK in the late 1990s as a postgraduate fellow studying immunotherapy, a treatment method that uses the immune system to outsmart cancer. While immunotherapy is now recognized as one of the most promising methods for treating cancer, the scientific community considered it unorthodox and even speculative at the time. Most nonprofit funders favored more established research areas and projects that could offer stronger guarantees on an investment. SAA went against the grain. Shortly after Dr. Wolchok arrived at MSK, it became the largest nongovernmental investor in his work and has been championing translational research in immunotherapy ever since. 
 
“High-risk, high-reward philanthropy is extremely necessary in an era of conservative grant allocation, and the field of immunotherapy has taken monumental steps forward because of the leadership and far-reaching vision of SAA,” says Dr. Wolchok.

Mobilizing the Immune System

MSK has been home to immunotherapy discovery for more than 120 years. With support from SAA, Dr. Wolchok and his collaborators have continued to build on this tradition, helping pioneer a new class of immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors.

An essential function of the immune system is distinguishing between healthy cells and foreign cells that cause harm. However, the immune system can only fight what it recognizes, and cancer often eludes detection. Cancer cells create proteins that cleverly bind with immune cells, signaling to the immune system to stay off when it should be on. That’s where checkpoint inhibitors come in. These innovative medicines block cancer cells from binding with immune cells so that the immune system can identify and mount a stronger attack against tumors in the body.

Immunotherapy drugs have transformed the way many cancers are treated, including melanoma and lung, bladder, and kidney cancers. SAA funding has been integral to the development of four FDA-approved checkpoint inhibitors — with more potentially lifesaving therapies on the horizon. 

This past June, an MSK clinical trial supported by SAA made cancer history. In the small study of people with advanced rectal cancer, led by medical oncologists Andrea Cercek, MD, and Luis Alberto Diaz, Jr., MD, Grayer Family Chair, a single immunotherapy drug eliminated all evidence of cancer in every patient within six months. These groundbreaking results mark the first time every participant has achieved complete cancer remission.  

The Next Generation 

The Swim Across America Laboratory at MSK is named in honor of the organization, recognizing its enduring generosity. The SAA lab hosts one of the largest research teams at MSK and is directed by Dr. Wolchok and Taha Merghoub, PhD. After years blazing his own path in science, Dr. Wolchok says that one of his most important jobs now is “creating space for the next generation of superstar researchers.” 

The sustained investment of SAA has positioned the SAA lab as a training ground for future scientists, including Svena Verma, a pharmacology doctoral candidate at MSK and Weill Cornell Medicine. Svena joined the SAA lab in 2019 and is currently working with preclinical melanoma models to harness the power of tumor metabolism for new immunotherapies. “It’s beyond exciting to have access to so many patient samples and data through MSK, and to see the therapies we’re working on have real-world impact,” she says. 

SAA’s 2022 season kicked off in July, with 24 open-water swims and more than 150 pool swims scheduled around the country. What began as a grassroots fundraising event in New York is today a truly nationwide movement to, as its slogan says, “make waves to fight cancer.”