A BBA recipient from Iona College in New York, Richard DiVenuto has served as an advisor to technology and biotech firms in areas including Boston, Massachusetts; Florida; and California. Richard DiVenuto supports research on Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, which can provide solutions to conditions such as lymphoma.

A new area of research in anticancer therapy, chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, or CAR T cell therapy, involves redirection of enhanced T cells to tumor sites. The T cells involved may be derived from the patient (autologous) or from external sources (allogeneic), and are enhanced through technologies such as gene engineering. While autologous CAR T cells have been useful in treating malignancies in the blood, they have limitations, such as high cost and the need to wait for cells to be produces, which can make immediate treatment impossible. Allogeneic CAR T Cells are not bound by these limitations, since they can be cryopreserved for use at any time, are less costly (due to the industrialized manufacturing approach), and also allow re-dosing.

Since allogeneic CAR T cells are derived from external sources, the risk of graft-versus-host disease, which occurs if the patient's immune system recognizes the cells as foreign, needs to be eliminated. This is an active area of research.