A PATHWAY TO INNOVATIVE PERSONALIZED CANCER TREATMENT

When entrepreneur and biologist Stephen Aldrich was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the esophagus, he went into overdrive to find a cure for the incurable. He determined that the best path would be a personalized neoantigen vaccine. The technology for such vaccines, which train the individual’s immune system to attack cancer cells, existed, but it was not easily accessible.

Through mutual friends, Steve met Jaime Leandro, a young woman who was fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer,. He was deeply impressed by her determination not only to survive, but to thrive. Their friendship accelerated Steve's quest to start a nonprofit organization—a consortium of companies—to make these vaccines available to patients with the most dire prognoses.

He named it after her: The Jaime Leandro Foundation for Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines. Grounded in the latest science, it’s a breakthrough approach that provides a pathway to possibility where there was none.

Matthew Giuffre's logo design captures Jaime’s bright light as well as the light in the darkness that this treatment option can provide.