From the CEO’s Desk: A New Year’s Message

Dear Friend,

Thank you so much for all you have done this past year to reach our shared vision of conquering and curing brain tumors — once and for all.

Your financial support, time, advocacy, and community leadership has resulted in making 2019 truly a year of progress. National Brain Tumor Society’s strategy to realize our mission is summed up in 3 powerful words: Defeat, Connect and Change. With your help, we are advancing treatments-focused research to ultimately Defeat brain tumors. At the same time, we are breaking down traditional silos to Connect patients, caregivers, researchers, clinicians, funders and regulators to each other, and to resources that help improve health care and quality of life for patients, as well as advancing research and development. We must also think ahead of the curve, and through advocacy create the Change that is possible in laws, policies, health care, and research programs to change the future for patients and families.

In 2019, by joining with NBTS, you helped achieve the following progress:

Defeat

• Launch of GBM AGILE, a new clinical trial program poised to revolutionize brain tumor clinical trials
• Discovery of an entirely new and promising research strategy for making immunotherapy successful for brain tumor patients
• Enabled NBTS to fund $2.3 million in research grants that span multiple tumor types
• Started a new Meningioma Research Fund at NBTS with the Brain Science Foundation and a new Epnedymoma Fund with CERN

Connect

• Launched Brain Tumor Support Conversations, giving patients and families a new monthly peer-to-peer support and education opportunity
• Brought together over 50,000 people at regional events to honor loved ones and connect to key health and treatment information. (Thank you to all teams, committees and community fundraisers!)
• Showed brain tumor community strength through the Gray Nation Endurance program
• Helped hundreds of patients and caregivers through personalized education and information

Change

• Advocated successfully for approximately $50 million more for brain tumor research for adults and children
• Inaugurated the first-ever Glioblastoma Awareness Day with Congressional leadership
• Organized our largest ever advocacy day on Capitol Hill

Together, we will keep our eyes on the prize of better treatments, better quality of life, and ultimately a cure. With you as part of the NBTS team, we are stronger than ever before. Thank you again, and let’s keep going forward together.

Best wishes for a happy new year,

David F. Arons, JD
Chief Executive Officer
National Brain Tumor Society

TAGGED WITH: brain cancer, brain tumor, advocacy, brain tumor community, Treatment, meningioma, immunotherapy, Ependymoma

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