WE AIM TO EN D
M ELAN OM A.
WHO WE ARE Ou r Hi st or y Founded in 2004, AIM at Melanoma is the largest international melanoma foundation seeking the cure for melanoma.
Ou r M i ssi on AIM's work focuses on three critical areas: -
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In n ovat ive Resear ch. AIM manages and funds global, collaborative, high-impact research initiatives Legislat ion , Policy & Advocacy. AIM serves as the trusted advisor and respected voice in the world of melanoma Edu cat ion & Su ppor t . AIM offers melanoma patients, caregivers, and health care professionals extensive and comprehensive educational resources and support services
Ou r Reach AIM at Melanoma's foundational principles include the understanding that melanoma is a global disease, and to both prevent the disease and identify successful therapies, we must work globally and collaboratively. We are based in the United States, but we work with researchers, advocates, and policymakers around the world.
INNOVATIVE RESEARCH We believe the cure for melanoma will be found more quickly by bringing together leading global researchers and funding their collaborative research. Rather than following the traditional foundation model of granting individual researchers dollars for their individual investigations, AIM seeks to design, manage, and fund paradigm-shifting, global-scale research initiatives that will accelerate the quest for more effective therapies and, ultimately, find the cure.
LEGISLATION, POLICY & ADVOCACY
EDUCATION & SUPPORT
AIM is the respected voice of melanoma across the nation. When drugs are approved, legislation is drafted, and research is assessed, AIM is at the table, speaking loudly and clearly on behalf of patients and their families. We are the trusted advisors for medical boards, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies on critical topics that affect melanoma patients.
Both in the U.S. and on a global level we provide comprehensive, easy-to-access melanoma information and resources to patients and health care professionals. AIM's patient, family, and caregiver support offerings? such as our Ask a Melanoma Expert service, which allows patients and loved ones to ask both medical and general melanoma questions, and our Peer Connect program, which matches newly diagnosed survivors with melanoma veterans? serve as models for other cancer foundations.
M Y DAUGHTER'S STORY In 2003, my daughter, Charlie, was living and working in San Francisco, packing 26 hours into each 24-hour day. A Brown University graduate considering medical school, Charlie?s life was full of promise and possibility. From the outside, she appeared healthy and full of life, as most 25 year-olds do. So her Stage IV melanoma diagnosis was unexpected, to say the least. And although we learned that Stage IV patients lived an average of nine months after diagnosis, we were initially hopeful: If anyone could beat the odds, it was Charlie. She was determined to fight the disease with the same intensity with which she lived. It was my responsibility to get her the best treatment available and give her the emotional support she needed, but information for melanoma patients and caregivers was lacking.
Charlie Guild, 1977-2003
In November of 2003, nine months after her diagnosis, Charlie succumbed to melanoma. My daughter fought her cancer with grace and humility, courage and dignity. To honor her and to continue her fight, I established the Charlie Guild Melanoma Foundation, which is now AIM at Melanoma. We have an admittedly ambitious plan: fund groundbreaking research to find the cure for melanoma; advocate for melanoma patients; and provide information and support to the melanoma community. The frustration about the lack of resources for melanoma patients, families, and caregivers was what initially drove me to establish the Foundation and especially AIM?s website, which is filled with critical resources not found elsewhere. I also learned during Charlie?s illness that melanoma patients as a group were lacking a strong and respected voice? an advocacy organization with a seat at the table when drugs are approved, legislation is drafted, and research is assessed. Medical boards, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies were lacking an advisor for critical topics that affect patients and families dealing with melanoma. AIM has become that voice, that advisor. Finally, the most horrific part of Charlie?s battle was learning that there simply weren't any viable melanoma treatments in 2003. After she died, I immersed myself in the world of melanoma research and decided that AIM would fund cutting-edge research so that we could soon live in a world where no other family suffered as we did. I am extremely proud to say that AIM?s three paradigm-shifting research initiatives are poised to help find the cure. We know that since Charlie's death melanoma has been one of the fastest growing cancers in the U.S. and worldwide, yet melanoma research lags behind that of other cancers. We know that one person dies of melanoma every 54 minutes? all day, every day, all year long. For me, these numbers are unacceptable. Defeating the cancer that took my daughter ?s life is now my life?s work. Valerie Guild, Founder & President AIM at Melanoma
AIM f u n ds par adi gm -sh i f t i n g, gl obal -scal e r esear ch i n i t i at i v es
AIM created, funds, and manages the In t er n at ion al M elan om a Tissu e Ban k Con sor t iu m (IMBTC), a primary tumor tissue bank, with four U.S. locations and one international branch. The only tissue bank of its kind in the world, IMBTC will collect, store, and study 500 fully annotated, fresh-frozen primary melanoma tissues. No institution or entity has ever collected so many annotated samples in order to do collaborative research. Potential outcomes include a diagnostic test? to know quickly and easily which moles and skin lesions are likely deadly and which are benign.
Our current clinical trial system tests one or two drugs at a time? a slow and ineffective way to find successful therapies. By contrast, M elan om a In t er n at ion al Collabor at ion f or Adapt ive Tr ials (MICAT) is a global, adaptive platform trial that will concurrently evaluate therapies in a singular and ongoing trial. Most experts agree that this type of trial is the most effective and efficient way to test the efficacy of new therapies. MICAT will get the right drug to the right patient at the right time? and MICAT will do this faster than traditional clinical trials. MICAT is one of the few adaptive platform trials planned or in existence in any cancer.
Th e In t er n at ion al M elan om a Wor k in g Gr ou p (IMWG) is a think tank comprising 25 of the world?s experts in the disease and eight pharmaceutical partners. Founded in 2006, the group meets twice yearly to collaborate and to share research and insights at an intense, informal two-day conference. IMWG is unlike any other scientific conference, encouraging collaboration, conversation, and international cooperation. Many recent advances in melanoma research have been planned, discussed, or furthered at an IMWG meeting.
GET INVOLVED! Th er e ar e m an y w ays you can su ppor t ou r m ission DONATE Your gift funds lifesaving research and provides information and support to people affected by melanoma. Whether you give a one-time donation, set up a recurring donation, or make a gift in honor or memory of a loved one, your donation can save lives.
FUNDRAISE You can throw a dinner party, plan a golf tournament, host a yoga event, or donate your birthday to raise funds to help AIM at Melanoma find the cure. Check out our DIY Fundraising Handbook for all the tools you need to create your own fundraiser and manage it from start to finish.
WALK Join one of our 20 nationwide annual Walks or plan one in your own community. Every step you take is a step in the right direction to find the cure for melanoma.
READY? Good. We n eed you .
SHOP When you shop using AmazonSmile and select AIM at Melanoma as your designated charity, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to AIM. It might not sound like a lot, but it adds up--especially if you ask others to support AIM through AmazonSmile, too.
VOLUNTEER There's no shortage of ways to volunteer with AIM at Melanoma, no matter how much time you have or the skills you are looking to share. We need help at Walks, Symposiums, and other events.
ADVOCATE Flex your political muscles and become an advocate. You can join our efforts to pass indoor tanning and sun safety legislation by calling your legislators, sending a letter, or galvanizing others to join our cause.
Visit : AIM at M elan om a.or g Con n ect : AIM at M elan om a Con t act : En gageUs@AIM at M elan om a.or g
91,270 N EW CASES OF M ELAN OM A WERE DIAGN OSED IN 2018