National Cancer Research Month

Research is crucial for identifying effective treatments and potential cures for cancer. During the month of May, join us as we raise awareness about the important and incredible impact research has on treating and curing people with cancer. 

This year’s National Cancer Research Month theme is “Close the Care Gap” and we’re celebrating the work our nonprofit members are doing to do just that. Cancer research saves lives and one of the most cost-efficient ways you can help these nonprofits is to donate to them through your employer’s workplace giving program Don’t have a program? Click here to have your employer contact our team, and click here to learn more about what employee workplace giving is and how it works.

Click below to learn how each of these nonprofits are contributing to cancer research and for ways you can support their work. 

Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA): OCRA works every day to fund cures, foster community, further conversations and, ultimately, the cause. OCRA is the largest global organization dedicated to fighting ovarian cancer.  They advance research to prevent, treat and defeat ovarian cancer.  We support women and their families before, during and beyond diagnosis. And they work with all levels of government to ensure ovarian cancer is a priority. A $100 donation can help fund a day of research. Click here to learn more.

Melanoma Research Alliance: The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) is the largest non-profit funder of melanoma research. Since its founding in 2007, MRA has committed $101 million in funding to end suffering and death due to melanoma by collaborating with all stakeholders to accelerate powerful research, advance cures for all patients, and prevent more melanomas. Since MRA’s founding, an unprecedented 12 new therapies have been approved by the FDA to treat melanoma, bringing the total number to 14. Advances in melanoma research are having a ripple effect across the field of oncology. Melanoma has been called the case study for state-of-the-art cancer drug development, precision medicine, and immunotherapy. In fact, therapies that were pioneered in melanoma are now being tested in more than 30 different tumor types. MRA has directly funded 372 investigators at 126 different institutions in 15 countries. Click here to learn more.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is the world’s oldest and largest private institution dedicated to the care and control of cancer. Memorial Sloan Kettering was the first institution to successfully perform a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor, a breakthrough that dramatically increased the number of patients for which this lifesaving procedure is available. Memorial Sloan Kettering has also produced more FDA approved drugs for the treatment of cancer in the past four decades than any other single academic institution. Most recently, MSK spearheaded efforts that led to the FDA approval of ipilimumab (Yervoy) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf) for the treatment of advanced melanoma. These drugs represent the first new treatments for this type of cancer in nearly two decades. Each year, MSK counts more than 24,000 inpatient and 500,000 outpatient visits to its main campus in New York City and regional sites. While many of their patients reside in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, many others travel from across the country and around the globe to seek MSK’s care. Click here to learn more.

CureSearch: Research is the only way to end childhood cancer. But we cannot pursue this goal at the cost of a child’s quality of life or long-term survival. We also cannot wait for the federal funding system to rise above its own bureaucracy in order to spur innovative new treatment options. We need innovative approaches now if the children of tomorrow are going to live long and healthy lives. This is why CureSearch is committed to transcending the broken system by addressing its challenges head on. By accelerating the pace of cancer research via large, long-term commitments to the most novel and promising science, we are driving ever faster to clinical use with patients—not in ten years, not in five, but right now. CureSearch is building the kind of transformative partnerships that will eliminate silos, increase collaboration, encourage invention, and help develop targeted therapies to reduce toxicity and improve quality of life for survivors. Finally, CureSearch is closely measuring and communicating its impact on children and families—every single day.  Accelerate the search. End childhood cancer. Join CureSearch today. Click here to learn more. 

Breast Cancer Coaltion: Breast Cancer Coalition is dedicated to knowing how to end breast cancer by January 1, 2020 through the power of grassroots action and advocacy. NBCC is quite different from other breast cancer organizations. They are about challenging the status quo, catalyzing research and science, leveraging existing resources and giving those diagnosed and those at risk of breast cancer the tools to make decisions for themselves. NBCC’s achievements range from generating more than $3.3 billion of federal funding for breast cancer research to creating a system of access to health care for uninsured women with breast and cervical cancer to launching international training programs in science and health care; but it’s simply not enough. While the vast majority of resources are focused on finding the next treatment, NBCC is doing something very different.  They are bringing together unprecedented collaborations among scientists, visionaries, and advocates to catalyze, plan and implement work in two major areas: how to prevent metastasis to save lives and how to prevent the disease from developing in the first instance.  Click here to learn more.