UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge
The Anti-Cancer Challenge is a community movement to raise awareness and funds for critical cancer research at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and CHOC, part of Rady Children’s Health.
Every participant-raised dollar directly funds pilot studies and early phase clinical trials that aim to develop new insights into cancer prevention, treatment and cures — to save lives.
The UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge is an activity of the University of California, Irvine Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax ID 95-2540117.
Making a Difference
The fight against cancer begins with fundamental research on its causes, detection, prevention and treatment at National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer centers like the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Through a partnership with CHOC, part of Rady Children’s Health, a portion of proceeds are dedicated to pediatric cancer research. Your support through the Anti-Cancer Challenge directly funds cancer-related projects, enabling UC Irvine physician-scientists to generate crucial preliminary data for high-impact research.
2026 Patient Honoree
Kimberly Thorp’s daughter was 2 years old when Kimberly was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Today, she is 6. For Kimberly, those four years represent far more than a measure of survival. They are birthdays, school milestones, family trips and ordinary days together — time made possible by cancer research, targeted therapy and a physician who refused to stop looking for the best path forward.
That experience is why Kimberly and her husband, Dan, have supported the UC Irvine Anti-Cancer Challenge for four years. For two of those years, their philanthropy has fully funded research led by Kimberly’s oncologist, Dr. Misako Nagasaka. Their goal now is to help create for other families the possibilities that research created for theirs.
“UCI has given so much to us that we want to pay it forward and give others hope,” Dan says. “UCI is committed to beating cancer, not just treating it. They are in it to win it.”
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