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Multi-million Dollar Donation Propels Breast Cancer Vaccines Forward

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Jan 08, 2025, 12:58 PM ET

Cancer Vaccine Coalition will speed up game-changing research thanks to $2 million match

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation is proud to be the first major donor to support Cancer Vaccine Coalition (CVC) - a new nonprofit with a laser focus on moving science forward faster for breast cancer vaccines. "We hope that our $2,000,000 matching gift brings awareness to the need for philanthropic funding and inspires other donors to join us in CVC's crucial battle against cancer," said Hilary Jellison Simonds, director for the Florida-based Jellison Family Foundation along with her mother and two sisters.

CVC was founded in 2024 by survivor and former NBC correspondent, Kristen Dahlgren, and aims to break down barriers by building awareness, eliminating silos and funding critical trials to shave years off of the breast cancer vaccine development process.
Breast cancer vaccines are currently in and awaiting trials around the country to eliminate disease, prevent recurrence and even prevent cancer for all types of breast cancer.
Cancer Vaccine Coalition is bringing together top researchers from institutions at the forefront of cancer vaccine research including Cleveland Clinic, Dana-Farber, MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Penn Medicine, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and University of Washington's Cancer Vaccine Institute.

"I was stunned to learn these vaccines are in development, but trials are stalled due to insufficient funding," explains Dahlgren. "According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. spends approximately $29 billion on breast cancer treatments annually. For a fraction of that cost, researchers can fast track these potentially lifesaving cancer vaccines to patients within a decade. There's no time to wait when an average of 114 patients die from breast cancer every day."

CVC Scientific Advisory Board Member and leading vaccine researcher, Dr. Nora Disis, from the UW's Cancer Vaccine Institute adds, "Breast cancer vaccines are already a reality. What CVC does is help fund trials faster and bring together top scientists across major institutions, so, together, we can make therapeutic vaccines standard of care treatment sooner for all breast cancer patients."

The Jellison Family Foundation's mission is to eradicate cancer and improve outcomes. For them, it's personal. "We all know countless women who have battled breast cancer," says Jellison Simonds, who lost her wonderful sister-in-law, Debbie, to this disease in 2023. "My mother, Sheila, always says, we believe that HOPE is the most important element when dealing with cancer. Together with CVC, we can pave the way for a future where cancer is not just managed but eradicated."

Cancer Vaccine Coalition is a 501c3 nonprofit, public charity founded in 2024 as a collaboration between survivors, researchers, industry and those impacted by breast cancer to help move science forward, faster. CVC is laser focused on funding clinical trials for breast cancer vaccines and spreading awareness about the research. For more information please visit www.cancervaccinecoalition.org or email info@cancervaccinecoalition.org

The Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation is a private charitable foundation, founded in 2018 and focused on free enterprise, financial literacy, higher education and helping people to overcome cancer-related challenges. Grant submissions from the public are not part of this invitation only charitable organization. Supporting CVC amplifies the Jellison Family Foundation's impact on the cancer community as they previously donated $25 million in support of the development of the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. For more information, email info@jellisonfamilyfoundation.org.

Name: Aliza Friedlander
Email: aliza@cancervaccinecoalition.org
Phone: 443.858.0098