During Brain Cancer Awareness Month in May, The Cure Starts Now Foundation has announced they will be funding over $2 million in DIPG specific research for 2017. This is in addition to the amount pledged by the DIPG Collaborative and will make the 2017 grant funding cycle one of the largest ever in DIPG research history. In the past 10 years, The Cure Starts Now has been the number one funder of DIPG research and is certain the excitement and information shared at this month’s DIPG Symposium will result in a record number of grants submitted.
Dr. Oren Becher, a grant recipient of The Cure Starts Now, talked about the progress of DIPG research.
“I started working on DIPG in 2007. Back then nobody was studying DIPG, I think I was one of two or three people. Today, I would say there are probably 30 or 40 researchers around the world that are studying DIPG.”
The increased interest in DIPG, as well as the collaborative nature of the researchers and organizations, is paramount to advancing the science and understanding of these tumors. Dr. Michelle Monje of Stanford University, a grant recipient of The Cure Starts Now, is keenly aware of this collaboration.
“We have to work together, this is a small scientific community and whatever resource is available to one researcher should be available to all researchers so we can work together to move forward.”
This $2 million announcement comes in a year that is significant to Brooke Desserich, co-founder of The Cure Starts Now. Ten years ago she never envisioned funding such quality research grants at such a large amount. Yet the DIPG community has certainly responded and thrived in these last 10 years since The Cure Starts Now was started. Brooke Desserich is quick to point out who is to be credited.
“This quick growth is attributed to our 29 dedicated CSN chapter families working together to effectively and efficiently raise the greatest amount of money for DIPG research.”
About The Cure Starts Now: With 29 chapters worldwide, The Cure Starts Now has quickly gained acclaim as one of the fastest growing cancer research charities and one of the first ones to advocate a homerun strategy for cancer research. Since 2007, The Cure Starts Now, in conjunction with the DIPG Collaborative, has funded over $7.3 million in DIPG/homerun cure cancer research at institutions globally.
