MENUAndrea L. Wolfe
Andrea L. “Andi” Wolfe, a hands-on philanthropist and former small business owner, has been serving in volunteer leadership roles throughout Southeastern Michigan, nationally, and globally for more than 40 years.
Andi graduated from the University of Michigan School of Education. She taught math and physical education at Wilkinson Middle School in Madison Heights, Michigan, before starting a family and later launching Speaking of Gifts, a mobile boutique she operated with a friend.
She began her volunteer work with WTVS, a public television station in Detroit, where she worked on and eventually chaired a large annual auction. The station then hired her to manage the auction, a position she held for two-and-a-half years.
Since that time, Andi has sought out organizations and causes that make a difference in people’s lives. She serves on the Board of Governors for Technion-Israel Institute of Technology as well as on the national boards of ORT America, the American Technion Society, and the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. She serves on local boards for the American Technion Society, Jewish Family Service, and ORT America. She is a transgenerational member of the Jewish Women’s Foundation and a lifetime member of Adat Shalom Sisterhood; Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.; and the National Council of Jewish Women. She previously served on the advisory committee for the University of Michigan Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center and has held many other volunteer positions.
Andi has been married to Larry Wolfe for nearly 50 years, and they are blessed with five wonderful grandchildren: Braedyn, Judah, Jackson, Rafi, and Dalia.
Describe your interest in the Rogel Cancer Center. What drew you to being on the National Advisory Board?
My best friend had multiple myeloma, and her husband had prostate cancer. U-M provided wonderful care and extended their lives, so that personal connection was certainly a factor. If I ever need a doctor, U-M is the first place I call.
When I was asked to consider being on the National Advisory Board of the Rogel Cancer Center, I went to a meeting and it was fascinating. The faculty members are so smart, and they are doing such incredible work.
Before he passed away my father had a vision of a collaboration between two of his loves, the University of Michigan and the Technion in Israel. His vision became the Kahn Symposium in 2011. In 2013 the Weizmann Institute, also in Israel, joined this collaboration. Every year these three groups of brilliant minds get together to discuss advancements in science, technology, and medicine. I love going to these lectures because I have a thirst for knowledge, which I got from both of my parents. I love the exchange of ideas and what those ideas might lead to in the future.
What are your hopes for what the Rogel Cancer Center can accomplish in the next decade?
I have a long list! Curing cancer in my lifetime would be a miracle. I would like to see a blood test for pancreatic cancer, and I would like to see more effective treatments for leukemia. I am hopeful about immunotherapy, that we will get to the point where the body fights its own disease. Not all research works, but I believe that if you don’t try, you are never going to cure anything.
As one of many cancer centers around the world doing amazing research, I am also supportive of our collaboration with others.
And if I could wish for anything else, it would be that treatments could be less painful and more humane.
How do you envision the National Advisory Board contributing to that success?
We come from all over the world. We will be ambassadors and talk about the work being done at University of Michigan. We are fortunate to be able to meet the doctors and to learn about how things work. It is our role as board members to understand.
I am kind of like a pied piper. If I learn something, I tell everyone. And I am never going to stop looking for a cure to anything, because it is just who I am.