History and Accomplishments
The Chordoma Foundation was incorporated on February 9th, 2007 and received
501(c)(3)
tax exempt status on October 16th 2007. Below is a brief list of our accomplishments to date.
2007
- Co-hosted the First International Chordoma Research Workshop (ICRW) with the National Institutes of Health, bringing
together over 50 physicians and scientists from around the world to develop a plan to cure chordoma.
- Secured NIH funding for the First ICRW, as well as the Second ICRW, scheduled for April 2008
- Organized the First Chordoma Community Conference
- Formed a collaborative chordoma research community where none existed before, and initiated twelve new chordoma research
projects at leading institutions around the world
- Prompted leading surgeons to save and share chordoma tumors
- Collected all known chordoma cell lines, distributed cell lines to multiple labs not formerly studying chordoma
- Initiated the first attempts to create a chordoma animal model
- Worked with oncologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to initiate a clinical trial using Sutent® for chordoma
patients with advanced or metastatic disease - only the second chordoma clinical trial in US history
- Initiated the first high throughput drug screening project for chordoma in history which could lead to rapid discovery
of effective drugs to treat chordoma
- Initiated the first large-scale genomic study of chordoma which could uncover the molecular cause of chordoma
Next steps
We are pleased to announce that the Chordoma Foundation reached its 2007 fundraising target of $250,000, and February 15th,
2008 total funds raised crossed the $300,000 mark. Having reached this fundraising goal, we now have sufficient resources to
push forward with the first steps of our
research roadmap by establishing the Chordoma
Foundation BioBank and funding the creation of high-quality chordoma cell lines, which are so vital for research.
Our next fundraising target is to reach $500,000 by April 1st. Once we reach this target we will announce a research grants
program and will release a request for proposals. Announcing these grants at the upcoming research workshop will show the
researchers that we are serious about supporting their work.
Thank you to everyone who donated in the past year and to all the Champions who raised money from their friends, family, and
community. We depend on the support of the chordoma community and appreciate your investment in our mission to cure this
devastating disease. With your help, the next year will bring even more progress.