In 2002, Fernando Goldsztein entered the MBA program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to broaden his vision of management, develop new skills and immerse himself in other cultures, environments and experiences. “The MIT Sloan program was at the top of my list,” Goldsztein told journalist Andrew Husband in 2022. “The school’s extraordinary reputation, the structure of the curriculum, and the focus on early-career leaders from diverse fields, backgrounds, and cultures made MIT Sloan unbeatable.” Over the course of her life, the lessons learned during that time have served her well beyond what Goldsztein could have imagined. In 2015, Goldsztein had a son diagnosed with medulloblastoma—the most common malignant brain tumor in children.
And after his first round of treatment, the boy’s cancer recurred. There is still no standard treatment for this condition, and only a few children survive. “Unfortunately,” Goldsztein noted, “medicine still cannot explain why only a few children survive this cancer when it returns—and more research is urgently needed.” About 500 children in the United States, and thousands more around the world, are diagnosed with medulloblastoma. medulloblastoma each year. However, like all pediatric cancers, medulloblastoma is categorized as a “rare disease,” which translates into fewer funding opportunities and slower research progress.
Little has changed in the treatment of medulloblastoma in the past 30 years. It was then that, after meeting Dr. Roger J. Packer, one of the world’s leading experts on medulloblastoma, Goldsztein made a pivotal decision: to focus his energy on supporting research to find a cure for medulloblastoma. In 2021, Goldsztein founded The Medulloblastoma Initiative (MBI) to raise funds from private donors and support a multi-institutional group led by Dr. Packer, the Cure Group 4 Consortium, based at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.
Even in a short period of time, MBI has been able to leverage the work of the Cure Group 4 Consortium, which has grown from five labs in mid-2021 to 11 labs in the United States, Canada, and Germany. With the support of MBI’s fundraising, the labs are working together synergistically and with a laser focus on medulloblastoma to accelerate the development of a breakthrough therapeutic treatment for children in 18 to 24 months, rather than the traditional 3 to 5 years. Goldsztein describes his experience at MIT Sloan School as a “turning point”—not just for his career, but for his life. “Of course, I learned a lot of management stuff,” he recalls.
“They were key to enabling my next career moves […], but that year changed my perspective on life. We’re not just talking about management. We’re talking about life—new experiences, new connections with people from all over the world, and new insights and approaches to different challenges. It was very transformative.”
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