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Dear friends:
We have just concluded an eventful April and are gearing up for what we hope will be the most impactful Melanoma Awareness Month to date. There is so much opportunity for progress in the fight against melanoma right now - we hope to leverage the energy from our May campaigns and the incredible work of the scientific community for maximum impact. As you know, we recently announced a record $9.6 million for 20 new research awards, bringing MRA's grant funding total to nearly $48 million.
Over the past several weeks, MRA launched a series of exciting collaborations with corporate and non-profit allies, debuted a new melanoma PSA featuring celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis in collaboration with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and participated in the BIO Annual Convention in Chicago where 15,000 biopharma innovators met to advance medical research translation. MRA-sponsored investigators took center stage at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Washington, D.C., where MRA participated in the unprecedented Rally for Medical Research to support a fully-funded National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Melanoma Awareness Month begins this week, and we are thrilled to be joined by more than two dozen allies in awareness and cause campaigns. Exciting new alliances include a consumer-facing campaign with L'Oreal Paris, collaboration with the American Idol Live! Tour 2013, and the kickoff of a wide-scale Danny Fund campaign with partners AT&T, mGive, Backstreets magazine and the family of longtime Springsteen band member Danny Federici.
Our May outreach plans include:
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A social media campaign featuring melanoma education and prevention and engagement with all of our allies in generating support for vital research
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Participation in Melanoma Monday (May 6) and Don't Fry Friday (May 24) along with many other like-minded skin cancer awareness and advocacy organizations
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The second Annual Leveraged Finance Fights Melanoma (LFFM) event in New York
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A skin check pledge campaign sponsored by Ipreo and other LFFM sponsors. We encourage all MRA supporters to sign the pledge, a promise to receive regular skin cancer screenings in an effort to detect and prevent melanoma
I hope that you will continue to engage with MRA and will help us raise awareness of melanoma and MRA's activities this May. We look forward to reporting back on the success of these efforts and remain grateful for your continued support as we work to defeat this deadly disease.
As we gear up for Melanoma Awareness Month this May, we are inspired by the growing army of participants in this fight to better prevent, detect, treat and ultimately cure melanoma. Watch for announcements about the innovative campaigns that MRA is launching with our allies. Thank you again for all of your encouragement and ongoing support for our efforts.
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