Marco Argenti and partner Nanyan Li represent Team PanCAN at the TCS New York City Marathon.

If there’s a way to shine a light on PanCAN, Marco Argenti has done it. This year, Marco added Team PanCAN to the list, running the New York City Half Marathon in March and, during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, completing the TCS New York City Marathon, alongside his partner, Nanyan Li.

Marco has generously supported PanCAN in almost every way possible since 2017 when he lost his friend and bandmate, Matt Bencke, to the disease. An avid runner, the NYC Marathon was Marco’s 7th marathon, including Berlin, Rome and Seattle.

Marco and Nanyan with their medals at race’s finish.

“I have always been an advocate for PanCAN,” said Marco after the race. “I was proud to wear PanCAN purple and message during this event that inspires millions of people around the world.”

Marco first became engaged with PanCAN with his band, Element47, when the PanCAN Puget Sound Affiliate set up their first performance to benefit PanCAN. The band held a series of fundraising concerts, ‘Live for Matt’, at iconic venues in Seattle and New York, in honor of their friend. Even the pandemic didn’t stop the series, as they streamed a past performance and played an encore ‘together’, each from their own home or studio.

Since then, Marco, a PanCAN board member emeritus, has hosted DIY fundraising events, made personal gifts, participated in PanCAN PurpleStride and now, joined Team PanCAN — always inspired by his friend, Matt. Marco’s evergreen Tribute page to Matt is still going strong and from that Tribute page DIY to PurpleStride to marathons, concerts and personal gifts, Marco has raised more than $1.77M for PanCAN.

Element47 in2020, playing ‘together’ on Zoom from their own homes or studios

Marco has spent his career in technology and is Chief Information Officer at Goldman Sachs. He is on the Advisory Board of the Cancer AI Alliance, a groundbreaking collaboration among four of the nation’s premier cancer institutions — Dana-Farber, Fred Hutch, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Johns Hopkins, and seven leading technology innovators — AWS, Nvidia, Deloitte, Google, Ai2, Microsoft, and Slalom. Together, they’ve launched the world’s largest and most impactful AI laboratory dedicated to transforming cancer research and treatment.

He, too, believes we are at the tipping point of changing the story of pancreatic cancer. “I am a believer that we are at a crucial moment in time, where the intersection of AI, technology and research can bring unprecedented progress and breakthroughs to people impacted by cancer and pancreatic cancer in particular,” said Marco.

How will you shine a light on pancreatic cancer during November?