Melanoma Awareness Month: Ways to Get Involved
By Renee Orcione, MRA Digital Engagement & Communications Manager | 29 April 2024 | 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 ways to practice sun safety.
The Melanoma Research Alliance has an exciting month of activities planned for Melanoma Awareness Month - and we hope you can join us!
Read more to learn about all the ways you can get involved and make a difference throughout the month of May.
Join MRA this Melanoma Awareness Month:
Step Up for Melanoma
Step Up for Melanoma is an inspiring virtual initiative that unites individuals in the fight against melanoma. By challenging participants to walk 10,000 steps a day throughout Melanoma Awareness Month in May, this campaign raises both awareness and vital funds for the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA). Are you up for the challenge? Join Step Up as an individual or gather your friends, family, or coworkers to make a team!
Don't forget to head over to the Step Up Facebook Community where participants can share their connection to melanoma, their progress throughout the challenge, and offer encouragement to others.
MRA May Match
Double your impact when you donate to MRA this Melanoma Awareness Month. All new contributions made throughout the month of May will be doubled thanks to a generous donor who has offered to match all donations up to $300,000. This will help us fund two new Young Investigator grant awards for the next three years.
100% of every donation made to MRA goes directly to research, without administrative, development, or other fees, because of the ongoing generosity of our founders! MRA has been recognized with Charity Navigator's Highest Four-Star Rating, and MRA also maintains a Platinum Seal of Transparency on Guidestar.
MRA Townhall: Melanoma Awareness Month Kickoff
Join us on April 30th to officially kickoff Melanoma Awareness Month with MRA's CEO Dr. Marc Hurlbert and President & COO Stephanie Kauffman.
MRA to Announce 2024 Research Grantees on May 1st
In recognition of Melanoma Awareness Month, MRA, the largest non-profit funder of melanoma research, will announce its 2024 grantee cohort. MRA-funded investigators represent the brightest minds working to advance melanoma prevention, timely diagnosis, and treatment.
2024 funding focus areas will include:
- Advancing Immunotherapy and Treatment Options for Treatment Resistant Melanomas
- Answering Questions in Rare Melanomas
- Tackling Brain Metastases
- Harnessing the Power of AI and Machine Learning
- Understanding the Role of the Microbiome
Ask the Expert: Dr. Eugene Semenov
Head over to MRA's online community, the Melanoma > Exchange, where we will be hosting an Ask the Expert with board-certified dermatologist and Assistant Professor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School Dr. Eugene Semenov from May 1st through May 8th.
Dr. Semenov’s clinical expertise includes cutaneous oncology with a focus on melanoma and supportive oncodermatology. His research interests include epidemiology of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer with an emphasis on improving outcomes and treatment selection for patients with advanced disease.
Melanoma Story Swap
We are inviting all those touched by melanoma to join us on May 21st at 7PM ET where you will get the opportunity to share your story, hear from others, and make connections.
*Registration is highly encouraged.
TIL Therapy: A Conversation with Dr. Allison Betof Warner
You may have heard of AMTAGVI, also known by the generic name lifileucel, a new therapy that recently earned FDA approval to treat patients with advanced melanoma in the second-line setting. AMTAGVI is the first individualized Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) T cell immunotherapy to earn FDA approval for any cancer.
To learn more about the approval, MRA’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Joan Levy will be sitting down with medical oncologist Dr. Allison Betof Warner of Stanford University on May 23rd at 2PM ET. Dr. Betof Warner has been a pioneer in the use of commercial tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy.
Don't Fry Day
The National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention has designated the Friday before Memorial Day - May 24th - as “Don’t Fry Day” to raise awareness of skin cancer prevention and to encourage everyone to protect their skin as they head outdoors to kick off the summer season.
Join us in promoting this important campaign within your own community with the easy-to-use Don’t Fry Day toolkit! The toolkit includes dozens of messages, images, infographics and more that you can use on your own social media and beyond.
Instagram Takeovers
Throughout the month, patient advocates will be taking over MRA’s Instagram to share their stories and discuss all things melanoma awareness, prevention, detection, treatment, research, and more. Follow @melanoma on Instagram so you don’t miss it!