Today's cancer scientists are on the verge of life-saving discoveries. But what they desperately need are the funds required to mount an all-out assault. Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is an unprecedented collaboration uniting the major television networks, entertainment industry executives and celebrities, and prominent leaders in cancer research and patient advocacy in a major new initiative to move groundbreaking cancer research out of the lab and into the clinic. SU2C was conceived and organized as a result of the creative efforts of the Executive Leadership Council of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
SU2C is founded on the belief that there is a strong understanding of the basic science of cancer, and with the technologies available, now is the time to take that understanding to the next level by translating this knowledge to the clinic, to real advances in patient care and cancer prevention.
These efforts can help the 1,437,180 people in the U.S. who will be diagnosed with cancer and the six million people around the world who will die from cancer*.
Stand Up To Cancer projects include:
- A nationally televised fundraising event that aired simultaneously in the United States on ABC, CBS and NBC at 8 p.m. EST and PST on September 5, 2008, and internationally in more than 75 countries (watch the video);
- Standup2cancer.org - an online community for everyone affected by cancer;
- A public awareness campaign featuring celebrities and members of the public to mobilize support for the campaign.
What is the goal of Stand Up To Cancer?
Simply put, the goal is to raise money to fund the most promising cancer research projects and unite the best scientists who are on the verge of critical discoveries that can provide direct patient benefit in the shortest time possible.
How will donations to Stand Up To Cancer be used?
- 70 percent of SU2C donations will directly fund the best and brightest investigators from leading institutions across the country and internationally to work in collaborative, multi-disciplinary "Dream Teams." These Teams will pursue the most promising research, accelerating the discovery of new therapies for cancer patients and/or advancing efforts in cancer prevention research -- with sufficient resources to conduct intense, goal-directed, team-oriented approaches to a cancer problem, these Teams can be successful. The more funds raised, the more Dream Teams that can be funded.
- 20 percent of SU2C donations will directly fund innovative, high-risk, high-reward innovative cancer research proposals that often are not supported by convention funding sources, but have the potential to improve the lives of cancer patients. The hope is that ideas for new Dream Teams will emerge from these novel projects.
- 10 percent of SU2C donations will be invested to the Stand Up To Cancer reserve to continue its mission of funding cutting-edge research and bringing effective new treatments to cancer patients in the shortest time possible.
Who will choose the research projects to be funded?
As the scientific partner for Stand Up To Cancer, AACR will conduct expert review of the research projects and provide grants management via a rigorous yet nimble, rapid, and transparent process via a "Blue Ribbon" Scientific Advisory Committee. The Scientific Advisory Committee is led by Chairperson and Nobel Laureate, Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT; Vice-Chairpersons, Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D., Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Brian J. Druker, M.D., Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University Cancer Institute; and an additional fifteen highly accomplished senior laboratory researchers and physician-scientists and two advocates elected by the Advocate Advisory Council.
How can I donate to Stand Up to Cancer?
You can visit http://www.standup2cancer.org/ to support the project in a number of ways:
- Make a donation using the online donation form.
- The Constellation: For a dollar donation or more, you can launch a star in honor of anyone who has received a cancer diagnosis.
- Participate in The Stand: An interactive Facebook application to illustrate that the cancer community encompasses everyone and that we are all connected by this disease. Through Facebook, you will be given the option to give up coffee, movie tickets, and other everyday luxuries and donate the amount of money saved to SU2C.
What is the role of the American Association for Cancer Research?
As a partner in this initiative, AACR provides scientific oversight and will conduct expert peer review and grants administration for Stand Up To Cancer. AACR is highly regarded for its scientific excellence, scientific brain trust in all subfields of cancer research, and for its peer review process that is fast, flexible, rigorous and transparent. The scientific leadership provided by AACR is critical to achieving SU2C's mission to translate the most promising cancer research into real advances in cancer treatment and prevention as quickly as possible.
*According to statistics provided by the American Cancer Society.