Celebrating 10 years of the UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge

The annual ride, run and walk event is powered by community, driven by discovery

Orange, Calif. — In 2017, the UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge was launched with the goal of raising funds to support the most innovative, high-risk, high-reward cancer research at UC Irvine and its pediatric cancer affiliate, CHOC, part of Rady Children’s Health.

With each passing year, thousands have rallied behind the cause, transforming the peer-to-peer event to raise research dollars for the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center into an annual UC Irvine tradition.

Now, the Anti-Cancer Challenge is marking a new milestone: the event’s 10th anniversary and a chance to celebrate a decade of impact, innovation and community involvement in the fight against cancer.

To defeat cancer, participants ride, run and walk to raise awareness and critical funding to kickstart promising cancer research.

“Over the years, the Anti-Cancer Challenge would not have been successful without the incredible support from the community,” says Dr. Richard Van Etten, founder of the Anti-Cancer Challenge and director of the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“This includes longtime supporters who have formed teams and raised large amounts of money along with corporate donors and sponsors like Hensel Phelps, Monster Energy Cares and Team Answer for Cancer, whose contributions have helped advance innovation for a healthier tomorrow.”

Since the Anti-Cancer Challenge’s inception, more than 20,000 participants have registered to ride, run and walk at the event, raising over $7.7 million for trailblazing research at the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in Orange County. The event also has consistently ranked among the Orange County Business Journal’s top five fundraising run/walks, a testament to the community’s steadfast commitment to advancing cancer treatment.

It has spawned meaningful partnerships, such as that of UCI Health gynecologic oncologist Dr. Robert E. Bristow and ovarian cancer survivor Megan Yoo Schneider, co-captains of Team Ovary Achievers.

After receiving her cancer diagnosis in 2022, UC Irvine alumna Yoo Schneider, 2014, turned to the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center for a second opinion. She connected with Bristow, a nationally regarded expert in ovarian cancer and chair of the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who operated on her tumor and saved her life. 

That’s when Yoo Schneider dedicated herself to raising awareness and research funds for ovarian cancer. Seeing her resolve, Bristow invited her to join his Anti-Cancer Challenge team, the Ovary Achievers, in 2023. They have since served as co-captains of the team, bringing together faculty members, loved ones, friends and community supporters to support critical ovarian cancer research at the cancer center.

“With UCI Health being an academic health system, the level of curiosity and care that all the providers have makes such a difference in the quality of care you receive, because everyone is looking for the latest and greatest research,” says Yoo Schneider. “I wouldn’t be here today if people weren’t curious.”

As a comprehensive cancer center, the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center conducts cancer research ranging from basic studies to clinical trials, tests treatment devices, medications and biological agents, all to ensure that patients have access to the latest, most effective care.

Over the previous nine years, each participant-raised dollar has directly supported more than 155 pilot studies and early-phase clinical trials, providing cancer center investigators with vital seed funding to pursue pioneering research and generate the critical preliminary data needed to successfully apply for extramural grants.

These initial funds can be transformational — often resulting in additional grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies, paving the way to new discoveries and insights with the potential to transform cancer treatment, survivorship and prevention.

In fact, UC Irvine researchers have been awarded more than $60 million in extramural funding to support pilot projects and investigator-initiated clinical trials kickstarted by the Anti-Cancer Challenge — generating a return on investment of roughly 18 dollars to one.

These groundbreaking research projects, such as the STOPGAP clinical trial, address specific community needs, connecting patients to novel treatments and possible cures.

Started by UCI Health surgical oncologist Dr. Maheswari Senthil and gastrointestinal oncologist Dr. Farshid Dayyani, the STOPGAP trial sought a better way to combat advanced gastric cancer, which has a poor survival rate and disproportionately affects Latinos and younger adults. Since its launch in 2021, the initial trial’s success has garnered attention beyond UC Irvine, with a STOPGAP II trial soon to expand to 30 institutions nationwide under Senthil’s leadership.

The annual event also represents hope for patients like LeeAnn Brill, a two-time breast cancer survivor, and serves as a reminder of an expansive support system brought together by the shared desire to defeat cancer.

Brill’s battle with cancer first began in 2015. She met with physicians at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, who addressed her rare and aggressive breast cancer diagnosis with compassionate care and expert treatment. Considering herself fortunate to have received care from physicians who are at the forefront of cancer research, she was encouraged to give back. Brill and her husband Michael have volunteered with the Anti-Cancer Challenge since its inception, traveling from their home in Nevada each year to help raise awareness of the significant impact cancer research can make in patients’ lives.

“As a cancer patient whose life has been saved by research, I am eternally grateful to everyone who has participated in and donated to the Anti-Cancer Challenge,” Brill says. “Your gifts have made it possible for patients like me to have more time and make more memories with our families.”

However, the fight is far from over. While the last decade has seen immense innovation and progress, researchers will continue to devise novel technologies and leading-edge cancer therapies in promising areas such as precision oncology and immuno-oncology.

For Van Etten, the research supported by the annual event demonstrates what is possible when community members unite behind a shared purpose. He says the Anti-Cancer Challenge will remain steadfast in its mission, to drive cancer discoveries in the decade to come.

Register to join the Anti-Cancer Challenge.