Enabling pathways to life-changing health outcomes through strategic philanthropy in advanced therapies.

What is The CCRM Foundation?

The CCRM Foundation is a private foundation and Canadian registered charity that will promote, advance and support the regenerative medicine ecosystem to advance life-changing therapies, in collaboration with a wide variety of partners.

Mission

The CCRM Foundation exists to support education, translational research and technologies that generate sustainable health and economic benefits. It provides strategic, impactful philanthropic investment to, and collaboration with, organizations, researchers and students at the forefront of regenerative medicine-based technologies and cell and gene therapies.

“The CCRM Foundation will have a transformative impact on regenerative medicine by funding critical research and providing resources to accelerate the development of new therapies. As an integral part of the regenerative medicine ecosystem, The CCRM Foundation will help bridge the gap between academic research and commercialization, bringing life-changing treatments to patients faster. By funding scholarships and training, it will create a pipeline of skilled employees, ensuring that the regenerative medicine field has the talent it needs to continue to thrive and make a significant impact on human health.”

– Michael May, PhD, President and CEO of CCRM, and Chair of the Board of The CCRM Foundation

Leadership

The CCRM Foundation has been working with CCRM’s leadership to build the framework and infrastructure of The CCRM Foundation, ensuring complete legal compliance and thoughtful planning. As the needs of the regenerative medicine ecosystem and our community outreach evolve, and the Board of Directors identifies innovative ways to contribute, giving priorities and programs may shift.

Approach

Through strategic philanthropy, The CCRM Foundation will engage individuals, corporations and foundations to fulfill its mission and enable its activities. Initial seed funding from CCRM has supported the start-up phase of its development.

Going forward, The CCRM Foundation will identify gaps in the regenerative medicine ecosystem and identify impactful solutions to fill these gaps using strategic philanthropy and partnerships. In particular, The CCRM Foundation will seek to fund allowable institutional, academic and other organizations that are identifying and implementing innovative opportunities through critical, but underfunded, stages of development.

The CCRM Foundation will take a unique approach as it completes its mission, as follows:

  • It will be nimble and progressive to ensure high-impact philanthropic investments.
  • It will always strive to steward donor funds in a transparent and collaborative manner, engaging donors in the philanthropic process to support the ecosystem.
  • It will take a “development philanthropy” approach.
  • It will advance education by providing classes, seminars, conferences and workshops on the current and potential future development, production and use of various types of therapeutic technologies, including advanced therapies, regenerative medicine, and cell and gene therapies, for the management, control and treatment of various health conditions and diseases.​
  • It will support undergraduate university, college and graduate (Masters and PhD) students by providing scholarships based on academic achievement. It will also look beyond the traditional regenerative medicine ecosystem to build partnerships with key community organizations that support systems that increase the accessibility of science-based education and opportunities to support underserved children and youth.
  • It will maintain the highest standards of transparency and practices.
  • It will be committed to prioritizing and demonstrating the values of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.

 

You’re Full of Genes supports The CCRM Foundation

 

Claudia Zylberberg, CEO of Akron Biotech, and a member of CCRM’s Board of Directors, recently published an updated version of her children’s book, You’re Full of Genes. The book educates the public about gene therapy in an approachable manner, and arms children with knowledge that can lay the foundation for a future in the field. Thank you to Dr. Zylberberg for generously sharing proceeds of sales with The CCRM Foundation and two other organizations.