Bob Wright established The Suzanne Wright Foundation in November 2016, in honor of his wife Suzanne, to drive urgency and action in the fight against pancreatic cancer.
The Suzanne Wright Foundation advocates for HARPA, the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, to drive innovation in biomedical research.
Despite medical innovation over the last century, millions of Americans with deadly and debilitating conditions have seen no progress….
There are more than 9,000 known diseases, yet there are approved treatments for only 500.
Two out of five Americans have a disease with no cure.
HARPA would leverage federal research assets and private sector tools to develop capabilities for diseases, like pancreatic cancer, that have not benefited from the current system.
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Bob Wright established the Suzanne Wright Foundation in honor of his wife Suzanne, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2016. 91% of patients die from this disease- most within the first year of diagnosis. CodePurple is a Suzanne Wright Foundation initiative to drive urgency and action in the fight against pancreatic cancer. The improvement in survival rates for breast, colon, prostate and other cancers demonstrates how the power of advocacy and focused funding can drive research and save lives. Pancreatic cancer is an emergency that requires an innovative, focused approach. Bob Wright and the Suzanne Wright Foundation have proposed the federal initiative HARPA, a Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, to build life-saving capabilities for diseases that have not benefited from the current system.
READ MORE ABOUT USSeptember 19, 2018
Two new pancreatic cancer research laboratories opening at MIT and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are giving researchers and patients renewed hope in fighting a disease that claims thousands of lives each year.
The “dedicated labs” — a $10 million investment — will provide hyperfocused research surrounding new treatment, prevention and detection. They are funded by the Lustgarten Foundation, based in New York.
The laboratory at Dana-Farber will be run by Dr. Brian Wolpin, who will focus on personalizing therapy and identifying new ways to detect pancreatic tumors. The lab will also work to improve early cancer detection by studying blood-based cancer markers and new models for risk prediction.
Wolpin explained that when the cancer is developing, there are little to no symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose in early stages. “Our hope is that we can diagnose a tumor before it develops symptoms,” he said.
Wolpin said his motivation to help advance pancreatic cancer research comes from his patients. “This disease is just incredibly difficult. It’s hard on patients and hard on families. When you experience it on a day-to-day basis in the clinic, it makes you want to do something to fix that.”
June 25, 2018
A segment from “The Patients Are Waiting: How HARPA Will Change Lives Now”
September 12, 2018
On September 5, 2018, Myles Colin Johnson, a special agent for the United States Secret Service, died from pancreatic cancer. He was only 49 years old.
Colin served in the USSS for 2o years, primarily on presidential detail. Prior to his career in the USSS, Colin served as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps for eight years, leading his fellow Marines in combat in Somalia.
Colin’s strong Christian faith was the cornerstone of his heart. He was larger than life – both physically and in spirit. He had a big heart and unflagging integrity.
Colin is survived by his wife of nearly 5 years, Fanny Gutierrez Johnson, and two sons, Maximo (3) and Magnus (2), whom he loved very much. Colin’s light lives on in the hearts of all who have ever crossed his path.
The Suzanne Wright Foundation is dedicated to driving urgency and action in the fight against pancreatic cancer—the most deadly of all major cancers. 91% of patients die. This is an emergency. This is #CodePurple.
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