The Angiogenesis Foundation


Mission

Our mission is to improve global health by advancing the field of angiogenesis-based medicine.


Background

Founded in 1994 by a group of Harvard-trained physicians, scientists, and humanitarians, the Angiogenesis Foundation is the world’s first nonprofit organization dedicated to conquering disease by controlling angiogenesis. Dr. George W. Thorn (1906-2004), who created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and was a pioneer of modern endocrinology, was our founding scientific advisor.

As a social enterprise, the Foundation works collaboratively to achieve its mission. We take multidisciplinary approach with a broad range of health stakeholders including patients, physicians, the medical research community, drug developers, payors, government agencies, and the media, through research, education, and the effective use of information.

Our First Decade
During its first decade, the Foundation developed extensive, international networks of basic researchers and physician-scientists, fostering interactions and the exchange of knowledge within the scientific community. The result of this shared knowledge led to the Foundation’s creation of new treatment concepts that ultimately became translated into actual therapies for cancer, blindness, and wound healing. We also identified the challenges likely to impede future therapies at various levels.

The Foundation also developed some of the first national and international angiogenesis conferences and courses, which were held in Washington DC, Boston, Cambridge, London, Crete, Beijing, and Bermuda. Our early partners in these events included NATO Advanced Study Institute, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Harvard Medical School, Gordon Research Conferences, American Association for Cancer Research, American Academy of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Procter & Gamble, Genentech, and the Johnson & Johnson Company. Our conferences have attracted the participation of the U.S. FDA, National Cancer Institute, National Eye Institute, as well as more than 300 companies in the biotechnology, medical device and pharmaceutical industry.

In 1997, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) appointed the Foundation to represent the angiogenesis field at its national patient advocacy event. We collaborated with doctors at Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital to start the world’s first Angiogenesis Clinic and Wound Center in 1998 to help patients with angiogenic skin-related conditions.

Our outreach programs have involved over 40,000 doctors, 1,000 trials, and 10,000 patients across 30 nations worldwide.

Vision and Goal

Vision

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, is a "common denominator" shared by diseases affecting more than one billion people worldwide, including all cancers, cardiovascular disease, blindness, arthritis, complications of AIDS, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and more than 70 other major health conditions affecting children and adults, in developed and developing nations. Our vision is that angiogenesis-based therapies are a unifying approach to disease and have the same impact in the 21st century that antibiotics had for disease in the 20th century.

Goal

Our ultimate goal is to eradicate angiogenesis-dependent diseases as a major cause of death and suffering. This will be achieved by: harnessing available knowledge to advance angiogenesis-based therapies, helping patients gain access to the safest and most effective treatments, and by applying the principles of angiogenesis for disease prevention.

Programs and Awards

A Resource For Patients

One of the most vital roles of the Foundation is bringing cutting edge and practical information to patients and their families. Throughout the 1990s, as angiogenesis therapies began to demonstrate their safety and efficacy in major clinical studies, patients from many countries around the world began to contact the Foundation seeking information on treatments across multiple disease areas.

Educating The Medical Community

The Foundation’s clinician education programs now encompass conferences, lectures, publications, and Internet-based learning. The teaching faculty is comprised of 170 leading scientific and medical experts representing different fields related to angiogenesis, including research pioneer Dr. Judah Folkman, and Nobel laureates Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Louis J. Ignarro.

Innovative Research

The structure of the Foundation’s research program is based on a “spoke and wheel” model, in which research collaborations are created simultaneously with multiple external institutions. Past collaborators have included: the National Cancer Institute, NASA, Harvard Medical School, Gannon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Germany.

Awards

The Angiogenesis Foundation received the 2006 Telly Award for excellence of its video documentary An Answer to Cancer: Angiogenesis. It also was awarded a Governor’s Commendation in 2003 by the Honorable Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts.

Funding

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Angiogenesis Foundation receives funding and is supported from numerous sources, including educational grants, charitable contributions, foundation and corporate support, and philanthropy. Past and current funders include Aeterna-Zentaris, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Celgene Corporation, Pellet Productions, Richard E. Rainwater Charitable Trust, Rudolph & Greta Koppel Foundation, and Thomas Bates & Associates.

Core Strengths

Expert Third Party Advocacy

Government officials and agencies have sought the Foundation’s advice as a trusted, objective, and evidence-based expert on angiogenesis-based therapies since its inception. Agencies such as the FDA regularly interface with the Foundation through its Consumer Liaison Division, and the U.S. National Institutes for Health engages the Foundation for research planning, expert panels, and special conferences. Additionally, Foundation officials have testified before Medical Coding and Coverage (MCAC) committees of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), presented before the Congressional Women’s Caucus, and have voiced expert opinions before FDA’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee.

Impact Today

Today, the Angiogenesis Foundation programs have impacted over 40,000 physicians in 23 specialties, 1,000 research laboratories, 300 companies, and 10,000 patients across 30 nations.

Throughout the world, the Foundation has earned a reputation as the objective third party expert on angiogenesis. Our work has been recognized by some of the world’s most prominent figures, including Nobel Laureates Dr. James Watson and Dr. Louis Ignarro, and Bill and Melinda Gates, among many others. The Foundation’s body of publications includes articles and citations in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, such as The Lancet, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine , and five medical textbooks. Top news outlets including CNN, TIME Magazine, USA Today, FORTUNE, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Bloomberg News, and The New York Times have cited the Foundation as an expert in the field.

Leadership

Governing Board of Directors

Christopher J. Bonar, V.M.D.
Cleveland MetroParks Zoo

The Edge
U2

Nicole H. Firestone, M.B.A.
Corriente Advisors LLC

Gerald Gehr, M.D.
U.S. Veteran’s Administration Medical Center

Louis C. Hook, Jr., M.B.A.
LCH Technology Partners

Sandra Judd, M.S.
Healthcare & Biosciences OTM Partners

Vincent W. Li, M.D., M.B.A.
Harvard Medical School

William W. Li, M.D.
The Angiogenesis Foundation

Shawna Cornelius Li, D.V.M.
Norton Veterinary Center

Quentin Andrews Parker
American Academy of Arts and Science

Daniel Rutz, M.P.H.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control

Dimitris Tsakayannis, M.D.
Hygeia Medical Center, Athens, Greece


Management

William W. Li, M.D.
CEO, President and Medical Director

Vincent W. Li, M.D., M.B.A.
Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer

Derek H. Kealey
Strategic Development Director


Partnerships

To advance its mission on a global scale, the Angiogenesis Foundation actively seeks partnerships and collaborations with:

  • Academic institutions
  • Biopharmaceutical companies
  • Government agencies
  • Healthcare educators
  • Media leaders
  • Medical centers
  • Patient support groups
  • Professional societies
  • Research institutions
  • Other nonprofit organizations

Recent Angiogenesis Foundation collaborators have included:

  • Advanced Concepts Analysis
  • Angiogenesis Research Center
  • Beijing Medical University
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  • The Brain Tumor Society
  • Brigham & Women's Hospital
  • Elliot Mastology Institute
  • Harvard Business School
  • Harvard Medical School
  • FLIR/Inframetrics, NASA
  • National Cancer Institute
  • NATO
  • Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals
  • Ohio Aerospace Institute
  • Ophthalmic Research Associates
  • Pharmacia Corporation
  • Procter & Gamble
  • Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine
  • University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • U.S. Air Force
  • Veteran's Administration
  • The Wound Healing Society
  • Yale Medical Center


Contact Us

The Angiogenesis Foundation
PO Box 382111
Cambridge, MA 02238
U.S.A.

Phone: (617) 576-5708
Fax: (617) 576-5808
Email: info@angio.org