Patient-Focused Research

The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation funds patient-focused research in gliomas. Patient-focused research expands on the “bench to bedside” concept of translational research to further catalyze advancements in the field that will benefit patients. More specifically, patient-focused research:

Keeps the patient at the center of research goals and generates clinically relevant results.
Promotes research endeavors that go back and forth from the clinic to the laboratory and from the laboratory to the clinic. Patient-focused research investigations in the clinic leverage scientific findings and provide medical insights that are brought back to the lab for further exploration and improvement. Patient-focused research investigations in the lab address specific questions about tumor biology to identify promising directions to pursue in the clinic.
Recognizes the need to develop an approach to diagnostics and treatment that addresses variations in tumor molecular profiles and physiological states that underlie differences in response to treatment among patients with the same tumor type.
Is driven by a strong sense of urgency to change the outlook for people diagnosed with gliomas and alter the course of this deadly disease. This sense of urgency keeps the focus of the research on optimizing experimental designs to achieve near-term results.
Represents a solution-oriented approach to funding research that views failure as a learning opportunity and measured risk-taking as a means to success.
Acknowledges that patients play a key role in the brain tumor research landscape by providing tumor and other tissue samples for laboratory studies and by participating in clinical trials.

By advancing patient-focused research, the Ivy Foundation aims to increase the number of therapies and diagnostic tests so that every brain tumor patient can benefit from an approach that predictably induces durable remissions and a high quality of life.