Christine Ash, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) alumna and emerita VP, and her husband Timothy have made a $1.25M gift to the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish the Christine and Timothy Ash Fund for Cancer Innovation Research.
Ash, who graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from CWRU, spent 50 years on campus working in the geology department, engineering school, and central administration, eventually rising to vice president of university planning and institutional research before retiring in 2015.
She also was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003 and again three additional times.
“Cancer affects so many people; you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who hasn’t lost a loved one to it,” said Ash, whose cancer hasn’t been detected since her last targeted radiation treatment in 2021. “And now, there are more and more instances of younger people being diagnosed—especially young women. That’s concerning, and we want to be able to help change that.”
The Ash's generous donation aims to drive more targeted therapeutic treatments and earlier cancer diagnoses, helping doctors catch cancers earlier—like they did for her—and, hopefully, lengthen patients’ lives.