Investors Launch New Cancer Prize

A group of hedge fund managers and scientists has created the Gotham Prize, an annual $1 million prize for innovative approaches to cancer research. The prize was founded by Joel M. Greenblatt and Robert Goldstein, both of the investment firm Gotham Capital, and Gary Curhan, a Harvard Medical School researcher. Contestants will be judged in part on the message string that develops around their research ideas as posted on www.gothamprize.org. In addition, all ideas will be made available to foundations and individuals that fund cancer research. "The Gotham Prize provides a real incentive by rewarding collaboration," Greenblatt says.