The largest privately funded national foundation focusing solely on brain cancer research has moved from the San Francisco Bay area (Palo Alto, Calif.) to Scottsdale. The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation is dedicated to funding research that improves the survival and quality of life for people with brain cancer, which are known as gliomas. Since 2005, it has contributed more than $50 million to brain cancer research in the United States and Canada, with much more funding planned.
“There is a cluster of excellent research institutions located in Phoenix, such as TGen, Barrow Neurological Institute and St. Joseph’s Hospital, with growing potential to make critical strides in brain cancer research,” said Founder and Board President Catherine Ivy, of the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation. “Funding these institutions and encouraging collaborations will enhance the funding we have done previously and move us closer to our goal: Doubling the survival rate of people diagnosed with gliomas within seven years from now.”
The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation was created in 2005 after Ben Ivy was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) and passed away four months later. A broad variety of tumors can form in the brain causing evident symptoms and approximately 40 percent of these will be diagnosed as GBM, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. Several well-known people have lost their lives due to GBM, including Senator Ted Kennedy in 2009 and Wall Street billionaire and CEO of IMG Worldwide Ted Forstmann in 2011.
Catherine Ivy is a native of Phoenix, where she grew up before moving to Palo Alto, Calif., for several years.
