Stewardship Report Volume 9 - Winter 2026

Research and Science

The MRF Breakthrough Consortium (MRFBC) is a unique national network of 33 academic centers of excellence in melanoma. The MRFBC fosters collaboration and information exchange to accelerate the research and development of the most promising therapies in melanoma treatment in order to deliver curative options to patients. MRFBC institutions have a track record of receiving NIH/peer-reviewed funding, publications in major medical journals, presentations at major cancer and melanoma conferences, clinical trial expertise and patient care. An in-person MRFBC meeting was held at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

2025 MRFBC Team Award Funding support enables the annual MRFBC Team Award. In 2025, the MRFBC Team Award was granted to a team of scientists investigating RNA-LNP therapeutics for melanomas resistant to current treatments, particularly immunotherapy. The multi-disciplinary research team is led by Ravi Amaravadi, MD of the University of Pennsylvania.

Huntsman Cancer Institute

University of Colorado

Mayo Clinic*

Northwestern University University

Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Yale University

of Chicago Ohio State University

Cornell University

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Columbia University

University of Pittsburgh

California Pacific Medical Center

New York University

University of California San Francisco

Northwell Health University of Pennsylvania/ Wistar Institute

Ravi Amaravadi, MD

Stanford Cancer Institute

Fox Chase Cancer Center

Thomas Jefferson University

St. John’s Cancer Institute

Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Virginia Johns Hopkins University

The Angeles Clinic and Research Center

Duke University

University of California Los Angeles

University of North Carolina

MD Anderson Cancer Center

University of Arizona

Moffitt Cancer Center

Vanderbilt University

University of Miami

* Includes satellite sites in Arizona and Florida. Note: New sites added in 2025: University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Cornell University, Stanford Cancer Institute, University of Arizona and Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN and satellite sites in Phoenix, Arizona and Jacksonville, Florida).

8 • Stewardship Report

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