This episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast with Dr. Lou DeGenerro, formerly CEO of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, now known as Blood Cancer United. I have a tradition as I record these introductions where I go back and listen to the episode, the day of release, so that it is fresh on my heart as I record this introduction. And no more than today is that important because I released this episode in the memory of John Greene, a volunteer I met at Leukemia Lymphoma Society many years ago at a volunteer leadership conference in DC. We lost John on November 30th to AML. And as I listened to this podcast with Dr. Lou and his lifelong focus on AML, I realized why his work is so important.

Who is Dr. Lou?

Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D., is managing partner at Cantlous Advisory Partners (CAP), a pioneering consulting firm working at the intersection of venture philanthropy, non-profit fundraising, and biotechnology innovation. CAP’s mission is to drive collaborative efforts that result in transformative advancements in healthcare. Prior to his current role, Dr. DeGennaro was president and chief executive officer of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a global leader in the fight against cancer with an annual budget of $500 million.

As the key architect of LLS's cures and access agenda, Dr. DeGennaro conceived and pioneered LLS’s Therapy Acceleration Program® - a venture philanthropy approach to accelerating new treatments to patients through drug discovery and development partnerships with the biotechnology industry. LLS’s foray into venture philanthropy helped redefine the activist role of non-profits to meet urgent unmet medical needs. Under Dr. DeGennaro’s leadership LLS also launched its groundbreaking precision medicine Beat AML® Master Clinical Trial and Dare to Dream, a research, advocacy, and patient support effort that features a global, master clinical trial in pediatric leukemia.

In his operating role at LLS, Dr. DeGennaro oversaw the growth of annual revenue from $225 million in 2014 to $500 million in 2023 through innovative fundraising programs that cut across peer-to-peer, corporate partnership, major gift, and service revenue channels.

After receiving his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California at San Francisco, Dr. DeGennaro conducted post-doctoral research at the Yale University School of Medicine. His previous academic appointments include research group leader, Max Planck Institute, Munich, Germany and associate professor of neurology and cell biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School. His previous private sector appointments included Senior Director, Molecular Genetics, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Executive Vice President, Synex Pharmaceuticals. Dr. DeGennaro is the author of 100 scientific publications.

This Thanksgiving week, we come to you with two special episodes of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. One, a conversation with Rick Dunetz, Founder and Chief Vision Officer of the Side-Out Foundation, who you heard from in an earlier episode. In this episode, we take a different path as we talk about tribes and community inspired by the book Tribes from Seth Godin. We talk about how Side-Out intersects two tight knit communities, volleyball and metastatic breast cancer, the power of community and advocacy and building the next generation of advocates as Side-Out brings innovative approaches to awareness and engagement. We also talk about StoryCorps® and Team Powdered Donuts' upcoming road trip via Airstream® starting next fall.

Enjoy our full conversation here, and you can also listen to the other episode that dropped today with some outtakes from both this episode and others about the road trip and advice I've received to date about my mobile love letter and "love crusade" hitting the road next fall.

Gary’s heartfelt journey will span the U.S., stopping at all 73 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers and other meaningful locations along the way, starting with a Southwest leg in the Fall of 2026 and continuing across the country in June 2027 . At every stop, powdered donuts will be shared and stories will be collected – echoing the spirit of StoryCorps® – down to the Airstream® in which Gary will travel.

This episode captures the seeds of the idea in a conversation with Rick Dunetz, Founder of the Side-Out Foundation, along with some fun outtakes from past episodes with advice from previous guests. This upcoming journey is truly more than a road trip. It is a mobile love letter. A love crusade. "One Story. One Moment. One Donut at a time."