The Story
Canary Foundation was founded in 2004 by Don Listwin, a successful high-technology executive who lost his mother to misdiagnosed ovarian cancer. Driven by an engineering mindset, Don was determined to understand the cause of such a grievous misdiagnosis. In search of an answer, he began researching scientific progress in cancer detection. Don discovered that although almost $10 billion is spent annually on cancer research in the United States, the vast majority is allocated to developing new cancer treatments and caring for patients.
Surprisingly, little funding is available to researchers investigating new ways to detect cancer at its earliest, most curable stages. He came to the realization that one of the most promising cures for cancer was relatively unexplored and severely underfunded – early cancer detection research. As a result, he made a lifelong commitment to leverage his resources and expertise to build the first non-profit organization dedicated solely to the funding, discovery, and development of tests for early cancer detection.
Don recruited Dr. Lee Hartwell, 2001 Nobel Laureate, to help form the first Canary Research Team—carefully comprised of outstanding scientific researchers from across the globe, each contributing specialized expertise across disciplines. Canary Research Team members come together regularly to collaborate and innovate, leading cutting edge research initiatives to advance the development of early detection tests. Canary Foundation has devised a simple process to provide funding and tools for team members to accomplish their stated goals at a rapid pace, with directly applicable results. Tools include software to share data, dedicated websites, project management support, quarterly collaboration meetings and project reviews.
Today, the Canary Research Teams continue to drive scientific progress through blood and imaging biomarker discovery, with the ultimate goal of translating these technologies into diagnostics tests for the early detection of cancer.
