Impact Report 2024

Patients with pancreatic cancer and their loved ones turn to PanCAN Patient Services for free, in-depth and personalized information on pancreatic cancer. We provide more resources and speak with more pancreatic cancer patients and caregivers than any other organization in the world — and we couldn't do it without you.

Overcoming Barriers

You make it possible for PanCAN Patient Services to help every patient and caregiver affected by pancreatic cancer, no matter what obstacles they face. We recently introduced a new program to provide extra hands-on support for people experiencing barriers to care. Two PanCAN Patient Services Navigators now complement our expert team of Case Managers, helping to address challenges in the healthcare system that, for some, make a life-changing diagnosis even more difficult. In the past year, the Navigators have offered help in both Spanish and English to almost 200 patients with complex needs. They've helped people enroll in clinical trials, access biomarker and genetic testing and more, with a goal to improve outcomes for everyone facing this disease.

“My hope is to make the healthcare journey smooth and less overwhelming for patients facing barriers to care by providing support and relevant resources, and by doing outreach on their behalf.”

Brianne Flores, PanCAN Patient Services Navigator

PanCAN en Español

PanCAN's educational materials provide patients, their caregivers and loved ones with invaluable information on a range of topics in easy-to-understand language. Now some of our most requested resources are available in Spanish. We also have a team of Case Managers ready to offer support and answer questions from Spanish-speaking patients and their loved ones. And thanks to your generosity, many more resources are in development.

Improving Patient Outcomes Today

through educational campaigns for the public and healthcare professionals.

During Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, PanCAN raised awareness of symptoms, risk factors and the latest research on early detection through a public service announcement, community toolkit, a World Pancreatic Cancer Day webinar and more.

And in the Future

by piloting solutions to ensure early detection strategies and faster, more efficient development of novel therapies.

PanCAN's Early Detection Initiative explores the connection between new-onset diabetes and pancreatic cancer, with a goal to develop a way to detect pancreatic cancer earlier in patients at high risk, increasing the likelihood it can be surgically removed.

Through the SPARK health data platform, PanCAN breaks down barriers to pancreatic cancer research by making real-world de-identified patient data accessible for scientists across the country.

PanCAN's strategic alliance with the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR) heralds the next phase for our groundbreaking Precision PromiseSM clinical trial platform. PanCAN serves as the patient advocacy partner for GCAR's work. This new alliance optimizes efficiencies so PanCAN can continue to invest in other areas of unmet need across the pancreatic cancer research field.

Twenty-five years ago, pancreatic cancer research received little investment. Many believed the challenges the disease posed were too great and that breakthroughs weren't possible. PanCAN saw it differently. We decided that patients and families deserve better. We asked you – our community – to join us in funding more research and today, the pancreatic cancer research field is thriving. Many of the grantees we've funded are now leaders in the field – mentoring the next generation and spurring incredible progress.

Rob Carmean and his brother John were always close, with similarities in appearance, interests and sense of humor. They spent many summers on Ohio's Lake Erie, catching perch and walleye, swapping stories and sharing experiences. Their bond got stronger in March 2022, when John shared that he had pancreatic cancer. Over the next five months, Rob spent most weekends with John, helping him tidy up the house, buy groceries and do other errands — sometimes even indulging with John in his favorite soda from a nearby country store.

It was important that we always save time for fun,” Rob said. “Sometimes we'd just hang out in John's garage, me sitting on his John Deere mower, and he in a lawn chair. He would ask me jokingly, ‘Do you know how to ride that thing?”

Rob will never get over the sting of his brother's death that August. John missed his daughter's wedding, as well as countless humorous moments, family time, old-timey sodas and chats about life.

After John died, Rob and their sister had a garage sale and sent the money to PanCAN.

“I've continued to donate to PanCAN because I believe in the mission, educational resources, the help they provide patients and families, and the research they fund,” Rob said. “They're a positive driving force in working to beat this disease.”

Rob is also leaving a gift to PanCAN in his will in hopes that one day other people with pancreatic cancer will have more time than John did.

We're Incredibly Grateful for Our Ambassadors' Support This Year

Karen Young

Chair

Linda E. Amuso

Vice Chair

Jay T. Backstrom, MD, MPH

Sharon Bittman

Preston Brice

Peter Cashion

Dennis Cronin

Julie M. Fleshman, JD, MBA

President & CEO

Rich Hume

Barbara J. Kenner, PhD

Lisa Kulok

Eric Park, CPA

Craig A. Rogerson

Mace Rothenberg, MD

Nicole Rubin

Nancy Stagliano, PhD

Karyn A. Temple

Rod Williams, MBA

Eileen M. O'Reilly, MD

Chair

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD

Vice Chair

University of Pennsylvania

Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD

Perlmutter Cancer Center/NYU Langone Health

Jordan Berlin, MD

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Jonathan Brody, PhD

Oregon Health & Science University

Suresh Chari, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center

E. Gabriela Chiorean, MD, FASCO

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Eric A. Collisson, MD

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Howard Crawford, PhD

University of Pennsylvania

Efrat Dotan, MD

Henry Ford Health

Andrew Hendifar, MD

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD

Weill Cornell Medicine

Sunil Hingorani, MD, PhD

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Michael Hollingsworth, PhD

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Peter Hosein, MD

University of Miami

Alison Klein, MHS, PhD

Johns Hopkins University

Steven Leach, MD

Dartmouth

Andrew M. Lowy, MD, FACS

University of California, San Diego

Nipun Merchant, MD

University of Miami

Jeannine Mills, MS, RD, CSO, LD

Dartmouth

Nicholas Nissen, MD

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Marcus S. Noel, MD

Georgetown University Hospital

Shubham Pant, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Marina Pasca di Magliano, PhD

University of Michigan

Jennifer B. Permuth, PhD, MS

Moffitt Cancer Center

Philip Agop Philip, MD, PhD

Henry Ford Health

Vincent Picozzi, MD

Virginia Mason Medical Center

Michael Pishvaian, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins University

Rosalie C. Sears, PhD

Oregon Health & Science University

Diane Simeone, MD

University of California, San Diego

Aatur Singhi, MD, PhD

University of Pittsburgh

Sapna Syngal, MD, MPH

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Brigham and Women's Hospital

Margaret A. Tempero, MD

University of California, San Francisco

Colin Weekes, MD, PhD

Massachusetts General Hospital

Jen Jen Yeh, MD

University of North Carolina

Lisa Beckendorf

Co-Chair

Nick Pifani

Co-chair

Anggie Becorest

Randi Ervin

Joy Faye Heines

Pamela Jackson

Paris Johnson

Reesa Levy

Clayton Mansfield

Steven Merlin

Diane Schooley-Pettis

Anne Shimabukuro

Ray Shupe

John Walmsley

Angeli Bateman

Co-chair

Helen Dillen

Co-chair

Janice Griffin

Jeanne Lipshetz

Mimi Leonard

Bruce Platt

Sue Popik

Tripp Razor

Jann Skelton

Wendy Stoneberg