Corvallis melanoma walk raises $1,135 for research

By Cathy Law
SolSurvivors Oregon, Community Engagement Committee Member

On May 22, 2016, Cathy Law, a member of the SolSurvivors Community Engagement Committee, hosted the first AIM at Melanoma Walk/Run in Corvallis, Oregon. This was a companion event to the OHSU War on Skin Cancer Event and the AIM at Melanoma Walk in Portland during the same weekend. $1,135 was raised from this event! One hundred percent of net proceeds were given to the melanoma tissue bank at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is one of four leading melanoma research centers in the U.S. that have laid the groundwork for a tissue bank consortium, which will provide the most basic of tools – primary tissue to be used in research.

This first annual Corvallis Melanoma Walk/Run offers folks who live in the Corvallis area the opportunity to seek out support and education locally. The organizers hope to grow the event each year, as well as to use it as a template for other smaller communities that also want to develop their own local event. If you are interested in starting a walk/run in your town and would like some support doing so, please contact Cathy Law.

Thank you to everyone who came out to join us at the Corvallis AIM at Melanoma Walk/Run and thank you to those who donated to the cause!

Portland-based patient group receives $50,000 to partner with researchers on melanoma study

A team of community members and researchers, led by Katie Wilkes, founder of SolSurvivors Oregon, has been selected to receive $50,000 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to develop a research study that reflects the needs and interests of melanoma patients and their families.

The award comes from PCORI’s Pipeline to Proposal program, which enables individuals and groups who are not typically involved in the scientific research process to develop partnerships with researchers and spearhead the design of a patient-centered research proposal. Previously, SolSurvivors received $40,000 to build a Community Engagement Committee and support the OHSU Department of Dermatology on engagement activities related to the Melanoma Community Registry.

“When something like melanoma touches your life, you realize that if you’re not spending at least part of your time making a difference, you are wasting the life you are given,” said Robin Zimmerman, a member of the project team who became involved with SolSurvivors after losing his wife to melanoma in 2008.

Last fall, the project team jointly hosted a Melanoma Community Research Forum, where over 90 participants gathered in Portland and Bend to learn about the latest melanoma research and participate in small-group discussions about their experience with melanoma. Themes identified during the event are being used to shape a collaborative research project, as well as a community event to be held in November 2016.

For more information, please contact info@solsurvivorsusa.org.


About SolSurvivors Oregon 
SolSurvivors Oregon is a network of melanoma survivors, family, and friends who are passionate about transforming the way we prevent, diagnose, and treat melanoma. We coordinate community events to educate patients and their families, advocate for sun safety, and are working closely with researchers at OHSU to wage a War on Melanoma.

About PCORI 
PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund comparative effectiveness research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence needed to make better-informed health and healthcare decisions. PCORI is committed to seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work.

Supplemental materials

• View the project abstract 
• Watch a video about the project