CURES IN
OUR LIFETIME

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 at 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.