Cancer. No disease in the history of medicine has proven more elusive and resilient. It defies logic. It’s unpredictable. It hides in plain sight. It evolves. And it’s soon to be the number one killer in America.

The very nature of cancer is why, at the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, we believe that only by pursuing and investing in the most audacious and ambitious ideas will we achieve victory over humankind’s deadliest enemy.

Our research focus is singular: high-risk, high-reward. 

Research that others might deem radical or believe to be reaching too far. Research that has a good chance of failure, but at the same time has a chance to fundamentally change the game.

Who does that kind of research?

Young scientists with the brilliance and unbridled passion to push boundaries and break rules. People with the incredible brainpower to earn millions of dollars on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, but who have chosen to take a different path, a path that could instead save millions of lives.

And we support them the best way we know how, with the money they need to bring their ideas from white boards to reality. The funding and freedom to pursue theories, concepts and strategies that others are not brave or bold enough to bet their careers on.

Brave and bold. 

That’s where the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation invests. That’s where we believe the answers will come from. 

Brave and bold. 

The only two words that will beat cancer.