Category: Allies & Partnerships
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.
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.
Improving Communication With Your Melanoma Care Team
20 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Melanoma Stories, Treatment
Good communication is always challenging but can be especially so when you are undergoing treatment for melanoma. That’s because navigating our modern healthcare system is often an exercise in decoding complex jargon and knowing the right questions to ask while managing stress and other strong emotions.
Melanoma Immunotherapies & Immune-related Adverse Events: A Conversation with Dr. Alexandra-Chloé Villani
By Tanisha Jackson, PhD - MRA Scientific Program Director | 5 February 2024 In Allies & Partnerships, Events, Science, Treatment
Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are side effects experienced by patients undergoing immunotherapy to treat their melanoma (or other cancer). In November, at the annual Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) meeting, we spoke with Dr. Alexandra-Chloé Villani, an MRA-funded investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, to learn more about immune-related adverse events and the research she leads in this area.