Breaking News: CVC and PICI join forces

I’ve been so excited to share some big news with you! 

From the beginning, Cancer Vaccine Coalition was built for one thing: to be a catalyst.

Our mission was to break down silos and build global collaborations to accelerate cancer vaccines.  We vowed to follow the science, and find the very best path to get cutting edge treatments to patients sooner.  It was never about building a non-profit, it was about building a MOVEMENT.  We never wanted to do it alone.

Today the Cancer Vaccine Coalition is thrilled to announce  a strategic integration with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy(PICI,)  a trail-blazing non-profit known for making big bets on bold research, and bringing together the world’s brightest minds to cure cancer using our immune systems.

Sound familiar? We thought so too.  

Founded in 2016, by tech pioneer Sean Parker, PICI shares CVC’s aim to build the most ambitious and collaborative engine in cancer research.  PICI doesn’t  just fund research, it is literally redesigning the system around it, with an urgency that matches our own.  

After meeting with Sean, and PICI’s CEO, Karen Knudsen (former CEO of the American Cancer Society!) I knew this was the perfect match to help us take what we have built from aspirational to operational. 

 PICI is already doing many of the things on our list: building a coordinated network of leading cancer centers where trials are designed and launched together.  Data is shared in real time, and discoveries don’t sit in silos but are actively brought into companies who drive clinical trials to ensure breakthroughs move more quickly toward patients.

With PICI embracing cancer vaccines as a scientific priority, it made sense to not just work together, but to formally join together.  

So as of today, CVC is taking its mission, urgency, passion and patient focus—and embedding it where it can move faster and reach further.  I will be joining PICI’s executive leadership team as the new Chief External Affairs Officer and will continue my work as a catalyst and a champion for better treatments.  I couldn’t be more excited! CVC was never about a name… or a 501C3. It was about building something world changing.  

So, while, technically, CVC will no longer be its own legal entity, our mission is very much intact. In fact, finding a like minded organization to launch us to the next level feels like the BEST thing that could happen for cancer vaccines. 

Lastly, no matter what we’re called, this ‘coalition’ has always been about you.  This is not the last you will hear about incredible research, enrolling clinical trials and key milestones on the road to vaccines.

 I am so proud of what we have accomplished together. I am eternally grateful to the CVC team, the scientists doing this incredible research, and ALL OF YOU.

What a ride this has been!! It is by no means over… I have never been more HOPEFUL!  

Cheers to you, this new PICI Partnership and our best ‘shot’ at getting vaccines to patients SOONER! 

With gratitude,  

Kristen and the entire CVC/PICI Team

Any questions?: Email me at: kdahlgren@parkerici.org

Learn more: www.parkerici.org