SFA to Honor SFA Founders with Sarcoma Legacy Award at Stand Up to Sarcoma Gala
September 18, 2023 – The Sarcoma Foundation of America (SFA), an organization dedicated to increasing research and awareness for sarcoma, today announced that the Founders of SFA, Mark Thornton, MD, MPH, PhD, Patricia Thornton, and John (Jack) Brooks, MD, will receive the Sarcoma Legacy Award during SFA’s Stand Up to Sarcoma Gala on September 19, 2023, in New York, N.Y. The Stand Up to Sarcoma Gala, now in its 21st year, features extraordinary honorees, tributes to sarcoma cancer survivors and advocates, and recognizing important advances in science and research.
The honorees founded SFA in 2000 on the idea that the sarcoma landscape needed to change. This award celebrates the impact SFA has had on the sarcoma landscape as a direct result of their work bringing this vision to fruition. Twenty-three years later, SFA is now the leading private funder of research in the sarcoma community, the principal organization representing sarcoma patients’ voice on Capitol Hill, and the most comprehensive patient advocacy organization representing all sarcoma patients.
“Because of the seed the founders planted, SFA has been able to invest more than $20 million and provide funding to more than 110 institutions in 12 countries over the last 23 years,” says Brandi Felser, CEO of SFA. “Together, they have impacted countless lives and brought the sarcoma community closer to a cure in our time. Many lives have been touched, and will be touched, because of their vision and work, and this deserves recognition.”
The Stand Up to Sarcoma Gala is a flagship event for the Sarcoma Foundation of America and best highlights the mission of the organization. Net proceeds from the event will benefit the 2023 research and patient education programs, funding sarcoma research grants and educating patients about novel therapies and empowering them to be better advocates for their care.
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About the Sarcoma Foundation of America
The Sarcoma Foundation of America (SFA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, is an advocate for increased research to find new and better therapies with which to treat patients with sarcoma. The organization raises money to privately fund grants for sarcoma researchers and conducts education and advocacy efforts on behalf of sarcoma patients. For more information, please visit www.curesarcoma.org.
About Sarcoma
Sarcoma is a rare cancer in adults (1 percent of all adult cancers) but rather prevalent in children (about 15% of all childhood cancers). At any one time, 200,000 patients and their families are struggling with sarcoma. Every year, nearly 17,370 new cases are diagnosed and more than 7,280 people die from the disease.