GP SPONSORS NAMED NREF RESEARCH GRANT

When Gladiator Project was first formed, the Board began speaking to contacts in the glioblastoma field where we had a natural connection. One of our key contacts, Dr. Chris Cifarelli at West Virginia University Medicine, informed us about a couple of awesome organizations he was involved with and introduced us to Dr. Costas Hadjipanayis. Dr. Hadjipanayis is the Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Union Square/Beth Israel and Director of Neurosurgical Oncology for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. He is also the Chair of Education for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons / American Association of Neurological Surgeons ("CNS/AANS"). As you can tell, he is a big deal! He quickly made time for us in his busy schedule and told us about all of the great efforts he and the CNS/AANS had underway.

Concurrently, through Gladiator Project's network, we had received funding proposals from many of the top GBM research programs run by universities across the country. These universities were all truly impressive, and it was awesome to see how they were devoting significant resources in their own ways to help find a cure for glioblastoma.

As Gladiator Project evaluated these individual proposals for potential funding, we quickly realized that we were FAR from experts in the field and we had difficulty gaining conviction in which proposals had the best potential to get us closer to a cure. The Gladiator Project team wanted to make an impact to further cutting edge research, but were feeling unsure about our next steps.

Enter Dr. Hadjipanayis! Through our discussions with him, we heard about the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation ("NREF") which funds grants for leading researchers in the brain cancer field - including glioblastoma. We were thrilled to hear not only that this group existed, but that the chosen grants are first evaluated by a panel of expert neurosurgeons! Incredible - an organization that receives research proposals from leading researchers from across the United States AND prioritizes the most promising proposals for funding. Also, if we partnered with the NREF, Gladiator Project would be able to have a named grant. We were so excited!

After enlightening discussions with Dr. Hadjipanayis and the rest of the NREF team, the Board of Gladiator Project decided that an NREF grant would be an excellent way to put the charity's funds to good use and approved a $50,000 grant for a 2023 research initiative. This grant will support one cutting-edge researcher's program for one year, so they can help us all get closer to finding a cure for GBM! We are thrilled to be associated with NREF and look forward to partnering with them to generate great outcomes for years to come.

-Benjamin Hanko, Board Member

Leslie SouthJanuary 20, 2023