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crowdfunding cancer charity hopes to help innovative new therapies escape ‘valley of death’

as the arrival of liver cancer awareness month calls much-needed attention to another worthy cause, a former researcher is trying to change the way we wage war on the disease.

by dave yasvinski

oct 2 2023
read time 5 minute read
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chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill growing cancer cells. it is a common treatment options for cancer patients. getty images
as the arrival of liver cancer awareness month calls much-needed attention to another worthy cause, a former researcher is trying to change the way we wage war on the disease.
mona jhaveri, the founder of music beats cancer, spent the early part of her career fighting cancer the way most people do — by spending long hours in a lab. with a degree in biochemistry, jhaveri dedicated a large portion of her life to trying to understand how ovarian cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy. after her hard work led to an important discovery, she patented the work and created a company to help move the research from the lab to the people who needed it most. little did she know, the hard part was just beginning.
“that was when i realized that one of the biggest hurdles in the process is finding funding as an entrepreneur — not as a researcher but as an entrepreneur,” she says. “it’s really the entrepreneurs that commercialize the science and they get very little support or notice. that’s why music beats cancer was born. it was a way to look at the war on cancer in a different way.”
while most charities direct the dollars they raise toward research and improving care at hospitals, jhaveri says few have the bandwidth to ensure future research is able to make the leap from the lab to the people it was meant to help. without this funding, the next great weapon in the war on cancer is at risk of falling into the same “valley of death”.

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“the valley of death is a detriment to society, not just a problem for a company in the industry,” she says. “it’s a detriment to society because great ideas are just dying on the vine while people are in need. our goal is to bring this research to the people. we want them to understand the innovative ideas that are going on in the fight against cancer, which is not just one disease but hundreds of diseases that have so many aspects to address.”

music beats cancer platform for change

when music beats cancer launched in 2014, jhaveri decided to emulate the crowdfunding model that was popular at the time because it gave people the option of donating to any specific research that they found compelling. instead of using a third-party committee to decide where donations would be directed, she wanted the focus to be on transparency and choice.

  she decided to incorporate music into what she was trying to do not because of any extensive connections to the industry (she had none) but because music is universal and can be a powerful way to enact change. the partnerships the site has formed gives them access to millions of independent musicians who participate in fundraising challenges in exchange for lucrative perks, such as the chance to perform at exclusive events.

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  “people could donate whatever they want, whether it was one dollar or one million dollars,” she says. “let’s leave it in the hands of the people. i saw this as democratizing the war on cancer and not like going to a gala where you have no idea of what you funded or what impact you had. we’re set up as a crowdfunding platform, but a charitable one where you can give tax deductible dollars that companies receive as a grant.”

the website features a list of active campaigns that people can browse before deciding if they want to donate. now that they’ve grown more popular, companies reach out to her in an attempt to access badly needed funding.
“i would say, in a certain way, the bar is low — meaning we’re not looking for which companies are going to be the next blockbuster,” she says. “we’re looking for companies that are addressing unmet needs. it’s not the financial component that’s important but whether the science team is good and if it really addresses a problem in standard of care where there’s a real need.”

giving the public a seat at the research table

according to jhaveri, music beats cancer is one of the few — if not only — organizations that brings scientific research directly to the public and gives them the opportunity to fund initiatives that they find interesting. historically, involving the public in this way has been taboo in the scientific community, she says, because of fears the subject matter would be too complex to understand or would have to be watered down for public consumption.

  but the pandemic provided ample evidence that the general public is not only ready and able to understand such issues, it is eager to be more involved in important health matters that affect them and the people they care about.

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  “we saw what happened during covid, things really did change,” she says. “suddenly, our leaders were in in public spaces. now, everyone now knows who (former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases) anthony fauci is. we all knew who he was but it wasn’t until covid that he became a public figure, right? but there’s lots of disease experts — they should all be public figures. our platform is a way to enable that.”

music beats cancer, which has brought in more than $500,000 to date, is also partnering with college campus groups to raise money while showing future generations the innovative research that is taking place and how the way we fight cancer can be improved. “ i feel like if you can sort of convert that younger generation, you can carry this forward,” she says. they’ll get infected with what we’re doing how we’re doing it.”

opening doors to liver cancer patients

when innovative companies aren’t constrained by funding dollars, it’s remarkable what they can achieve. jhaveri points to a radical new form of therapy that uses focused ultrasound waves to generate thousands of tiny bubbles of gas that are capable of destroying liver cancer tumours within minutes. the procedure, which doesn’t leave a mark on the skin, is an example of the type of innovation that will make a profound difference in the lives of patients everywhere. she hopes that her platform will help ensure that other, lesser-known ideas are given the chance to obtain the same level of success.

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“you have all these great thinkers that are coming up with everything under the sun,” she says. “in this day and age where we hear so much bad news, it’s exciting that there’s also this amazing stuff going on. i feel like it’s our job to highlight the amazing people and amazing ideas that are being generated out of the other side of humanity.”

dave yasvinski is a writer with    healthing.ca

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