News
Melanoma Research Alliance Announces $12.6 Million Investment in Cutting Edge Melanoma Research
1 May 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, News, Prevention, Science, Treatment
The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the world’s leading non-profit funder of melanoma research, announced its $12.6 million commitment to fund melanoma research supporting more than 30 scientists at leading academic and medical institutions in the United States and across the globe. Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, remains a public...
Melanoma Awareness Month: Ways to Get Involved
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 29 April 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, News, Prevention, Science, Treatment
Melanoma Awareness Month, held each May, is an occasion to connect and be in community with others who have been touched by melanoma. With this month brings the opportunity to join forces with other melanoma advocates to raise awareness of melanoma research, the importance of early detection, and the many...
Why I Step – Jeff Heaser
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 18 April 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, Prevention, Science, Treatment
In the summer of 2017, Jeff Heaser's eldest son, Jake, received a devastating diagnosis: Stage 4 melanoma. Over the following several years to treat his melanoma, Jake underwent multiple surgeries, radiation treatment, BRAF targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and countless blood tests and scans through Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Neoadjuvant Therapy and the Melanoma Standard of Care: Where Does it Fit In?
15 April 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Science, Treatment
The standard of care for patients with high-risk Stage 3 melanoma with active disease, palpable lymph nodes (lymph nodes that can be felt), or in-transit metastasis (cancer cells that have started to spread but have not yet reached the lymph nodes)1 is surgery followed by systemic treatment.
What Melanoma Patients Need to Know About AMTAGVI
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 28 March 2024 In News, Science, Treatment
You may have heard of AMTAGVI, also known by the generic name lifileucel, a new therapy that recently earned FDA approval. AMTAGVI is a type of cellular therapy that uses Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) to treat patients with advanced melanoma whose melanoma hasn’t responded – or quit responding – to PD-1 based immunotherapies and BRAF/MEK targeted therapy if their melanoma has the BRAF mutation.
Melanoma Research Alliance and Antidote Improve the Clinical Trial Navigator Experience for Patients and Caregivers
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 26 March 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Science, Treatment
In an effort to empower and assist melanoma patients in their clinical trial search, MRA first joined forces with Antidote in 2017 to provide a streamlined, easy-to-use clinical trial search tool. Recently, we launched a major update to the tool with enhancements to make searches more patient-centric, especially for individuals who are impacted by rare melanoma subtypes and those seeking systemic therapy at earlier stages of disease.
Overcoming Melanoma and Finding Purpose: Brittanny Groover's Story
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 21 March 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Melanoma Stories, Prevention, Treatment
Growing up as a child in the 2000s and even later into her teens and early 20s, Brittanny Groover wanted what many other young girls and women want: to be tan. Whether it was using tanning beds with her high school friends or laying out by the pool with her...
The Future of Immunotherapy & Cell-based Therapies
11 March 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, News, Science, Treatment
“Melanoma research helped lead the way to a lot of paradigm shifts in cancer treatment,” says Dr. Antoni Ribas, Professor of Medicine, Surgery, and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Toni English's Journey from Mucosal Melanoma Patient to Advocate
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 28 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Melanoma Stories, Science, Treatment
In the five years since overcoming Stage 4 mucosal melanoma, Toni English has found her life’s passion advocating for patients and families and championing research to answer the many questions that surround this rare melanoma.
Recordings from MRA's 2024 Patient Forum
27 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, Prevention, Science, Treatment
MRA’s 2024 Patient Forum brought together melanoma patients, survivors, advocates, and their loved ones to provide lay-friendly, state-of-the-science education and promote collaboration.