Skip to content
BACK to About Us

Mission, Vision & Values

National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) unrelentingly invests in, mobilizes, and unites the brain tumor community to discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and caregivers.

Building on over 30 years of experience, we are the largest patient advocacy organization in the United States committed to curing brain tumors and improving the lives of patients and families. With thousands beside us, our collective voices and actions are a powerful force for progress.

Our donors, volunteers, advocates, and partners fuel our work and accelerate breakthroughs in brain tumor research. We will not stop until we defeat brain tumors — once and for all.

National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) unrelentingly invests in, mobilizes, and unites the brain tumor community to discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and caregivers.

Conquering and curing brain tumors — once and for all.

  • Patients First
    We are fiercely committed to providing a voice and community for all individuals impacted by brain tumors
  • Best-in-Class Science and Service to Our Community
    We adhere to rigors standards across our scientific and community initiatives
  • Constructive, Candid, and Transparent
    We practice fearless candor by being honest, accountable, and transparent in all that we do
  • Relentlessly Results Driven
    We set aggressive goals, active measurable results, account for our work, and accurately report our progress. We drive positive change and have the courage to disrupt the system and take risks to achieve our goals
  • Committed to Public Trust
    We are prudent stewards of donors’ funds and conduct our organization openly, operate efficiently, and communicate frequently
  • Collaborative and Inclusive
    We believe that working with others is critically important to achieving our mission
  • Positive (Can-Do) Attitude
    We believe a positive attitude is essential for achieving our goals
  • Strengthened by diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
    We embrace a culture of equity, inclusion, belonging, and all forms of difference where we each can confidently express our authentic selves.

National Brain Tumor Society is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in our workplace, on our board, and for the diverse brain tumor community we serve. Ensuring that all voices are respected and valued is critical to effectively uniting our community, advocating for change, removing barriers to healthcare access, and supporting innovation in research. Together, we can conquer and cure brain tumors—once and for all.

Why We Are Different

We believe we can move the needle faster and drive more new discoveries by influencing and funding research and actually bringing together policymakers, researchers, clinicians, doctors, and industry organizations to collaborate and share information in order to find better treatments and a cure for brain tumors. We are the only brain tumor organization that has an active public policy agenda, and we directly advocate to policymakers to give patients with a brain tumor a voice in Washington, D.C.

We are intimately connected with top brain tumor researchers, academics, and clinicians. Some of the top brain tumor experts are scientific advisors on our programs, and we hire PhDs to help create informative content and translate new research developments into language that patients with a brain tumor and their families can understand and act on.

We don’t just write blank checks. We drive a thoughtful research agenda and hold our researchers’ feet to the fire by monitoring their progress and having them report on findings to the community to justify funding.

We support more than 11 signature, regional walks, races, rides, and many other community and scientific events, so our mission is strong.

Our Impact

Money raised by the generous donations of our supporters has specifically funded groundbreaking discoveries and programs including:

  • Funding and leading research initiatives with the foremost brain tumor experts in the world
  • Treatment discovery and development initiatives
  • Clinical trials with leading biopharmaceuticals companies to increase drug development and create new options for treatment
  • Critical platforms and processes for sharing cutting-edge medical and research information
  • Advocacy and public policy initiatives to influence government legislation, regulations, and policy,
  • Investing in our talented, unique, and influential staff in order to drive these research and public policy advancements.

Why Invest in the National Brain Tumor Society

It takes the combined knowledge, expertise, and dedication of many individuals and organizations to fight brain tumors and develop new treatments. This includes academic researchers, clinicians (neuro-oncologists, neuro-radiologists, neurosurgeons, etc.), biopharmaceutical companies, patients, survivors, caregivers, philanthropists, policymakers, and regulators. When you give to one medical institution, you are helping just that one organization’s efforts. But, when you give to NBTS, you are investing in the combined power of the entire brain tumor community. Funding will go to many organizations and research efforts, giving patients with a brain tumor the best chance for better treatments.

This multi-pronged, community-based approach will help find treatments faster while promoting better information sharing and collaboration between experts around the world to find a cure for brain tumors. Only NBTS can convene these various forces through our programs and mission agenda in order to create rapid progress toward a cure.

Stay Informed & Connected