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Fueling Cancer Research at the NADA Show: How Your Demo Can Make a Difference

Published Date
Author automotiveMastermind
Rachel Brown

GUEST AUTHOR:

Rachael Brown
Chief Development Officer, Cancer Research Institute.

Key takeaways

  • Cancer Research Institute has spent more than 70 years supporting bold science and visionary researchers, helping turn cancer immunotherapy from a promising idea into a standard of care for millions of patients worldwide.
  • As federal research funding faces uncertainty, philanthropic and corporate partners are increasingly vital to ensuring cancer research momentum does not slow and promising discoveries reach patients faster.
  • Every automotiveMastermind demo signup at the NADA Show translates into a donation to CRI, turning everyday engagement at booth #3923W into tangible support for lifesaving immunotherapy research.

As a leader at the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), I’m often reminded that meaningful progress comes from long-term commitment and a willingness to invest in what’s possible, even before the outcome reveals itself.

Since 1953, CRI has done exactly that. Founded on the belief that the immune system could be harnessed to fight cancer, CRI has spent 70+ years supporting bold science and visionary researchers, helping transform the field of cancer immunotherapy from a promising idea into a standard of care for many patients today.

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. The immune system is very good at detecting and destroying foreign agents such as bacteria and viruses, but cancer is a person’s own cells and can develop ways to hide from or suppress immune responses.

Today’s immunotherapies work in several powerful ways — by releasing the “brakes” on immune cells through immune checkpoint inhibitors, by training or engineering immune cells to better target cancer, by using antibodies and cancer vaccines to mark tumors for attack, or by deploying oncolytic viruses that selectively target cancer cells while stimulating immune response.

Together, these approaches are used to treat more than 30 types of cancer, with over 150 FDA approvals since 2011, and millions of patients benefiting worldwide each year. This approach has led to life-changing results for patients with cancers that were once considered untreatable. The field continues to evolve as researchers work to make these therapies more effective, more precise, and accessible to more people.

How Partnerships Are Accelerating Cancer Research

None of this progress happens without sustained support. Cancer research depends on steady investment and collaboration to allow researchers to continue uncovering new ways of making therapies more effective, precise, and accessible to more people.

At a time when federal research funding faces uncertainty, philanthropic and corporate partners play an increasingly vital role in ensuring momentum doesn’t slow and promising discoveries don’t go unrealized. Every dollar invested helps accelerate the path from the lab to the clinic — and ultimately to the patients who are waiting, and hoping for more time.

Those patients are the reason this work matters. Survivors like Oswald Peterson, a professional dancer who was shocked to receive a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis and told he might have only weeks to live. Just two weeks after his first treatment, his tumors began to shrink. Six months later, his doctors found no evidence of disease. Thanks to immunotherapy, Oswald was able to return to his beloved Carnival celebration and reclaim a life he feared he might lose. Oswald’s story is one of many that demonstrates just how this vital research translates into more time, more precious moments, and more hope.

That’s why our partnership with automotiveMastermind is so meaningful. Every demo signup at their NADA booth (#3923W) translates into a donation to CRI, turning everyday engagement into tangible impact.

For NADA Show attendees, stopping by the booth is a simple way to support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research, proving that real progress happens when people come together around a shared purpose. When you stop by their booth, you’re not just exploring smarter dealership technology; you’re helping fuel the research that brings us closer to a world immune to cancer.

On behalf of CRI and the patients we serve, thank you for being part of what’s possible.

Learn more about automotiveMastermind’s commitment to CRI and our other exciting plans for NADA.