Jim Valvano and ESPN founded the V Foundation for Cancer Research in 1993, just months before he succumbed to bone cancer. An award-winning sports commentator, earlier in his career Jim was a charismatic coach who, against high odds, led North Carolina State University to victory at the ’83 NCAA Basketball Tournament. The foundation adopted his motto, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
The foundation has raised more than $80 million, much of it providing critical early-stage support to novel research. Guided by an advisory board of top physicians and research scientists, the foundation has an excellent track record for finding and funding gifted young scientists and investing in projects with strong potential to yield new treatments and cures. In 2004, the Mass General Cancer Center received a V Foundation grant of $600,000 for translational research and four Cancer Center researchers are among the foundation’s 109 V Scholars, promising young researchers who receive grants of $100,000 to establish their laboratories.”
