Executive Director Jonathan Agin recently traveled to Seattle, Washington from June 12-14th to attend the annual meeting of the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer, also known as CAC2. CAC2 began to take shape in 2011 to bring many different stakeholders from the childhood cancer community together to collectively raise awareness, create collaborative efforts among member organizations and reduce duplication. Max Cure immediately saw the benefit of joining in this endeavor and today stands with close to 100 other childhood cancer related organizations and individual advocates working toward the same fight against childhood cancer.
During the meeting, members interact with some of the world’s top clinicians and researchers, members of the National Cancer Institute, FDA and the pharmaceutical industry to learn about new developments and how our collective work is impacting children with cancer. Additionally, there are specific meetings of separate interest groups such as research, advocacy and family support to name a few. Whereas Max Cure’s mission aligns with all of the interest groups, we have been most active with our participation in the research group. Since 2017 when Jonathan embarked upon reshaping Max Cure’s research direction through a bold and aggressive path, our participation in collaborative groups like the CAC2 research interest group have allowed us to further ensure that Max Cure’s research funding is laser focused. By helping to shape priorities used for collaboration by member organizations, we gain insight into how best to make research-funding decisions as well as create meaningful partnerships to accelerate results.
As part of Max Cure’s research efforts and participation in CAC2, we recently joined the International Cancer Research Partnership (ICRP). Through the ICRP, we are better able to determine that our research dollars are not duplicating other projects that are already well funded.
The Max Cure Foundation has always held the belief that through collaboration we can achieve greater results as a community. We feel strongly that our participation in groups like CAC2 provide the platform for our work to reach more support and create faster results as we continue to fight childhood cancer.
Executive Director Jonathan Agin Provides Public Comment Before the Food and Drug Administration
On June 20, 2018, Executive Director Jonathan Agin provided open public comments before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on the issue of the implementation of the RACE for Children Act signed into law in August 2017. (more…)
The Max Cure Foundation’s Aggressive Research Mission and Continued Legacy of Support for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Almost ten years ago, Max Plotkin sat anxiously in a small exam room at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center while his parents, Chairman and co-founder David Plotkin and mother Annemarie Plotkin waited to find out why Max’s arm looked the way it did on the x-ray securely attached to the light board. When the dust settled, Max was treated at MSKCC for the rare diagnosis of B Cell Lymphoma of the bone. Max’s cancer was the first pediatric case of its kind at MSKCC, and thankfully to the amazing treatment team, Max is now a ten-year survivor. (more…)
Max Cure’s Executive Director Jonathan Agin is featured in Real Clear Health. “As the Executive Director of the Max Cure Foundation, I am no longer fighting for my daughter and her life. What I am doing—and what so many of us in the childhood cancer community are doing—is fighting for the lives of all of children suffering.” (more…)
On June 29, 2016, I was one of five individuals selected to present public comments at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) pedODAC meeting in a special session dedicated to the pediatric brain tumor that took my daughter’s life, (DIPG). (more…)
You are brought into a small room: a doctor, a nurse, a social worker and you. The look on their faces is dire. You can feel the fear building; it is palpable. And then you hear the words I’m sorry, “your child has cancer.” This scenario repeats itself 43 times each day in the United States. In April 2008, my family heard those words about our 2-year-old daughter Alexis. Alexis fought against inoperable and terminal brain cancer for 33 months before passing away in January 2011. Similarly, in May 2007, David and Annemarie Plotkin heard these words about 4-year-old Max. Max now stands as a “poster child” for giving other families hope. (more…)
As the first Executive Director of the Max Cure Foundation, I set several lofty goals that will take significant time and effort to bring to fruition. In viewing the combined three-pronged mission of MCF, one of my biggest desires was to ensure that the funding MCF has provided to the Immune Cell Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center was indeed money well spent. (more…)