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understand chemistry and biology and what causes cancer and why it's growing and mutating. But that information alone, if you don't translate it to a compound that can get into a clinical trial, that can become a medicine, then you really just have a deep understanding of the biology of cancer, not something actionable to target the disease and reverse it or stop it," says Curebound CEO Anne Marbarger. "Translational cancer research really means being able to translate a basic discovery that happens, usually in a lab, around the drivers of cancer, or a mutation, or the cellular pathways that are essentially causing cancer, and being able to translate the discovery of that knowledge to clinic and to patients, where it can become a medicine that overcomes cancer," Marbarger explains. Deeply entrenched in the fabric of San Diego, Curebound brings together the talent spread across the many research entities in our backyard, but with the goal of sharing the results with the world. While Marbarger says that this will always function as what she calls the "hub of this ecosystem," the goal is, of course, to create treatments that can help people worldwide. Formerly Padres Pedal the Cause, the organization became Curebound in 2021 when it joined forces with the Immunotherapy Foundation. "e word 'curebound' really conveys why we're here," says Marbarger. "We have always created these mechanisms to bring the best and brightest scientists from very different backgrounds and from different institutions together, and we've fostered that by providing seed and grant funding that requires collaboration, and I think that that drives our extensive community engagement," explains Marbarger. She says that this spirit of collaboration that brings together multiple entities in this shared goal is a platform with broad appeal. "Everyone is touched by cancer. ey want to be part of a community that says, 'You belong with us, and you can be part of the solution and the cure,' and that's what Curebound is all about," she says. Marbarger shares her enthusiasm for three projects that have received Cure Prizes — $1 million grants to teams that have an innovation to improve the standard of care for cancers that are typically fatal that have to have patient application in 3 to 5 years: an ovarian cancer project, a liver cancer project, and a pancreatic cancer project. She says that year-to-date, Curebound has received 166 letters of intent, a 32 percent increase over last year. e plan is to invest another $10 million into local cancer research this year. "ere's just such a strong pipeline of innovation and discovery that, without support from the community and from Curebound, won't get a chance," she says. "And that's what absolutely inspires me and the community to give more." curebound.org CONCERT: PHOTO BY JAKE MAGRAW TOP: PHOTO BY CATHERINE HATFIELD Marbarger greets 27,000 supporters at Petco Park for Curebound's Concert for Cures in May 2025, headlined by superstar and humanitarian Elton John, which raised $11.5 million Curebound CEO Anne Marbarger with cancer survivor and advocate Joseph Pangelinan