Curebound Catalyst & Equity grant winners announced. Read the San Diego Business Journal's featured coverage here.
Accelerating cancer research into cures
Curebound is a San Diego-based 501c3 philanthropic organization that raises and invests strategic funding in translational cancer research projects aimed at accelerating new discoveries to clinical application.
About Us
Curebound is headquartered in San Diego amidst a unique combination of three NCI-cancer centers, clinical care hospitals, biotech companies, venture capital investors, philanthropic networks, and most importantly- a regional culture that embraces the spirit of collaboration.
This ecosystem positions San Diego and Curebound at the forefront of discovery - bringing genomic medicine, new technologies and clinical trials to market and presents an unprecedented opportunity for research collaboration. We believe that the next decade will be critical to the development of sophisticated, personalized approaches in the way we prevent, treat and ultimately find cures for cancer.
Curebound is committed to investing $100 million into collaborative cancer research in San Diego to make the vision of cures in our lifetime a reality.
Our Mission
Mobilize San Diego to accelerate cures for cancer in our lifetime.
Background
Launched in 2021, Curebound united two highly respected cancer organizations, Padres Pedal the Cause and Immunotherapy Foundation, both of which were founded by families whose lives were changed by cancer.
Padres Pedal the Cause was founded by Bill Koman, a two-time lymphoma survivor, and his wife Amy. Deeply grateful for the life-saving care that Bill received, the Koman family is committed to ensuring the same outcome for others. In 2013, Amy and Bill Koman created Padres Pedal the Cause, a cancer fundraising cycling challenge operated in partnership with the San Diego Padres that has raised $24+ million for early-phase research in San Diego.
‘Padres Pedal’ is an outgrowth of Pedal the Cause St. Louis (founded by the Komans in 2009), which has raised and donated over $40 million to fund 169 innovative research grants at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. The Koman family also established the Cancer Frontier Fund in partnership with the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation and worked to create the Illumination Gala, which has become the gold standard for this type of signature event, having raised $35+ million on its own over the last decade. Collectively, these efforts have raised close to $95 million dollars for cancer research across the country, which has led to millions more in follow-on funding from additional grant sources.
In 2015, Ralph and Fernanda Whitworth established the Immunotherapy Foundation (IF) to accelerate precision cancer immunotherapy research into better treatments for patients. A year later, Ralph lost his battle with cancer, but his vision lives on through IF’s work. In just six years, IF contributed over $5.5M to promising cancer research, cancer prevention and patient support initiatives. Funds from IF helped to seed and operationalize the Advanced Cell Therapy Lab and enabled the creation of the San Diego Center for Precision Immunotherapy, both as UC San Diego. IF was instrumental in establishing a cutting-edge neoantigen discovery platform with multiple therapeutic applications, including two first-in-kind Phase I clinical trials- a personalized cancer vaccine and personalized cell therapy. In addition, IF worked to create an HPV cancer prevention curriculum for community health workers and supported cancer immunotherapy summits for patients and caregivers.
These two organizations share the belief that cures are possible. Curebound is a bold step toward realizing that vision. To support the vision of a world without cancer, please consider making a donation today.
CEO, Koman Group; Founder, Padres Pedal the Cause
Professor and Dean, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science
President and CEO, Westcore
Private Investor & Former Chairman TransWestern Publishing Company
CEO, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
CEO, Boxer Capital
Partner at ARCH Venture Partners
CEO, Endeavor Biomedicines
Deputy Director, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Regenerative Medicine
President Emeritus, Rady Children’s Hospital
Retired Publishing/ Philanthropist
CEO, Curebound
Co - Founder of AltheaDX and ALMA Life Sciences, LLC
Co-Chief Investment Officer and Regional Market Director of San Diego - Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
President & CEO, CONAM
Global Life Sciences & Boardroom Diversity Advisor | ZRG Partners, LLC
Principal, Bernstein Private Wealth Management
Partner, LYZZ Capital Advisors
Partner, CEO Coaching International
Founder, Immunotherapy Foundation
Chairman, Burnham Foundation
Former CEO, Lofta Inc.
CEO, Endeavor Biomedicines
Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist, Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego
Chief Science Advisor, Curebound
Vice President, Medical Affairs at Lassen Therapeutics
Co-founder, Chief Science Officer and Executive Vice President of Inhibrx
Managing Partner, Bioqube Ventures
Partner, ARCH Venture Partners
Managing Director, RiverVest Venture Partners
Chief Scientific Officer, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Managing Director, Head of Biotech Private Equity, Ally Bridge Group
Senior Associate Dean and Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research and Care, Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health
Managing Director, Avidity Partners
Director, Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center; Jeanne and Gary Herberger Leadership Chair in Cancer Research
Director, Salk Institute Cancer Center Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory William R. Brody Chair
Partner, LYZZ Capital
VP, Corporate and Business Development
VP Biologics, Calibr at Scripps Research
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Science Advisor
Chief Strategy and Implementation Officer
Senior Director of Research
Communications + Creative Director
Executive Producer, Concert for Cures
Strategic Philanthropy Officer
Community Engagement Director
Padres Pedal the Cause Event Director
Chief Development Officer
Director of Research and Impact
Padres Pedal the Cause Senior Manager
Manager, Research & Impact
Accounting Manager
Marketing & Communications Manager
Event Operations Coordinator
Community Engagement Coordinator
Curebound is proud to partner with top brands and organizations who share a commitment to collaboration and want to help create a world without cancer.
To all of our community and corporate partners, thank you. Working together, we can accelerate the pace of discovery, improve outcomes and increase survivorship.
Learn more about ways to partner with Curebound please contact Shannon Gill: shannon@curebound.org