Ren Pedersen

Ren Michael Pedersen OAM (born "Rene" in Atherton, North Queensland, Australia) is an advocate for children's brain cancer research. He founded the independent Australian arm of The Cure Starts Now after the death of his daughter Amy from a brain stem cancer known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). ^[1] Pedersen was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for service to the community. ^[2]

The Cure Starts Now (Australia)

The Cure Starts Now was founded in 2007 by Cincinnati's Keith and Brooke Desserich with Pedersen the former director of the independent Australian branch of the organization. In 2009, the organization became an official DGR Registered Australian charity (Incorporation #IA37656) ^[3] and then in 2019 a new charity name The Cure Starts Now Australia Limited was registered as a charity. ^[4]

In 2013 the organisation was awarded a $109,000 Monash Institute of Medical Research Grant to fund "Targeted Drug and Stem Cell Therapy" trials ^[5] and was featured at the International Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-Oncology in Singapore in 2014. ^[6]

Fundraising for cancer research

To date approximately $5 million has been directly raised by The Cure Starts Now (Australia) ^[7] for DIPG brain tumour research, since its 2009 inception ^[8]

Significant fundraising activities include:

• In 2015, Pedersen helped raise nearly AU$190,000 for the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia, ^[9]
• October 2016 – $180,000 provided to CCIA through the "DCA" Grant. ^[10]
• November 2019 - The DIPG Collaborative presented a research grant cheque for $146,298.29 to Dr Han Shen at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research. ^[11]
• December 2019 - The Cure Starts Now Australia donated $151,468 to Sydney Children's Hospital to develop new epigenetic combination treatments against DIPG.^{[ citation needed ]}
• September 2020 - Hunter Institute of Medical Research's "COMBATT/Paxalisib" project commenced @ $203 522.00 ^[12]
• October 2020 - Children's Cancer Institute's "Epigenetic Players" initiative started @ $150 379.00 ^{[13] [14]}
• February 2021 - Nature Communications announces new results from CSN's seed funding of the CCI's exciting DFMO/AMXT1501 research project. ^[15]
• 15 April 2021 - new clinical trial announced, stemming from CSN's 2015 FACT/CBL0137 Grant. ^[16]
• June 2021 - CSN Fundraising Gala. ^[17]
• 6 October 2021 - $136,561.00 donated to Dr. Laura Genovesi for research into "Innovative Models of the Brain Microenvironment to Identify New Treatments for Medulloblastoma". ^[18]
• 10 October 2021 - $266 741.00 donated to Dr. David Ziegler of Sydney Children's Hospital for research into "Phase I/II Study of Oral DFMO + AMXT1501 for DIPG/DMG". ^[19]
• 10 October 2021 - $68 280.00 donated to Dr. Dannielle Upton of the Children's Cancer Institute for research into "Developing Novel Combination Therapies for DIPG". ^[20]

References

1. "The Cure Starts Now". Thecurestartsnow.org. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
2. "Australia Day 2022 Honours List | Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia". Gg.gov.au. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
3. "ABN lookup". 25 January 2024. 25 January 2024.
4. Commonwealth of Australia (1 November 2019). "Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission". Australian charities and not-for-profits commission. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
5. "A father has raised $100,000 to fight deadly cancer in honour of daughter". Herald Sun. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
6. Rachel Afflick (21 July 2014). "Townsville father takes cancer cure campaign to world stage in Singapore". Townsvillebulletin.com.au. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
7. "Changing The Future For Children With Brain Cancer | CCI". Ccia.org.au. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
8. "Amy's story | DIPG cancer | Children's Cancer Institute". Ccia.org.au. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
9. Cassidy, Adene (24 October 2015). "Surprise funding boost for child cancer scientists". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
10. Backhouse, Andrew (2 September 2017). "Allies battle kid cancer". Townsville Bulletin. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
11. "Grant supports WIMR's much-needed research into aggressive childhood brain tumour". Westmeadinstitute.org.au. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
12. The Cure Starts Now/Matt Dun DIPG Collaborative. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021 – via YouTube.
13. "2020 Convoy For The Cure Update!". 24 November 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2022– via YouTube.
14. "Cancer Epigenetic Biology & Therapeutics | Children's Cancer Institute". Ccia.org.au. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
15. "Potential new treatment for fatal childhood brain cancer". Sciencedaily.com.
16. "Scientists make major breakthrough in fight against incurable child cancer | Sunrise". 7news.com.au. 14 April 2021.
17. "This week, some of the bravest people I know will be centre stage in Townsville". inqld.com.au. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
18. University of Queensland (25 January 2024). "Dr Laura Genovesi". University of Queensland. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
19. Children's Cancer Institute (12 February 2021). "Sydney researchers identify/advance potential revolutionary new drug treatment for fatal childhood cancer". Children's Cancer Institute. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
20. "Dr Dannielle Upton". University of NSW. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.

External links

• REN PEDERSEN OAM at thecurestartsnow.org.au
• DIPG: The Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma Resource Network
• Notes Left Behind