2025 I MPACT REPORT
WE AIM TO END M ELANOM A
? w h ile im pr ovin g t h e lives of t h ose it af f ect s.
WHAT WE DO We direct, manage and fund COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH INITIATIVES, on a national and global scale. Our initiatives are innovative. We ask the world?s leading melanoma researchers what they need? what?s missing in the fight? and listen when they respond.
We speak on behalf of melanoma patients and families through our work in LEGISLATION, POLICY, AND ADVOCACY. The invited presence of our staff on numerous boards and committees that directly affect patients is one indication of our leadership in the world of melanoma.
The breadth, depth, and number of our EDUCATION AND SUPPORT resources for the melanoma community are second to none. Whether you?re a patient, survivor, caregiver, family member, healthcare provider, or researcher, we have so much to offer.
We also host 20 Steps Against Melanoma WALKS across the country each year. Participants, volunteers, and sponsors will join us to honor loved ones, support those currently facing melanoma, raise awareness about one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer, and raise funds for AIM at Melanoma?s mission. * Cancer Facts and Figures 2026. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2026/2026-cancer-facts-and-figures.pdf
We also h: This is new
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
The last year has been one of growth. We added tremendous new resources for patients with melanoma and their families to our website. We added additional staff to help fulfill our mission. And we expanded internationally? read more about our international growth, below.
This annual report describes four notable successes in 2025 for AIM at Melanoma? one from each of the areas of our mission and one from our 2025 Steps Against Melanoma Walks. Thank you: You are the reason for our successes, and we are grateful for your support.
Sam Guild, President
2025 A Year of Gr ow t h AIM at M elan om a gr ew in all sor t s of w ays: We added n ew r esou r ces, h ir ed addit ion al st af f , an d expan ded ou r r each in t er n at ion ally.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH INITIATIVES THE INTERNATIONAL MELANOMA TISSUE BANK CONSORTIUM (IMTBC)
?Fresh frozen primary melanoma tissue, particularly in combination with quality clinical annotation and paired peripheral blood, is a rare thing in a tissue repository. To have hundreds of such samples available for study is a gold mine for researchers.?
SUCCESS: In 2025, w e added t w o n ew PIs t o ou r IM TBC t eam When IMTBC co-founder Sancy Leachman, MD, PhD, moved on from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), we welcomed Noah Hornick, MD, PhD, as our new principal investigator for OHSU. Dr. Hornick is Assistant Professor of Dermatology at OHSU. Luckily, Dr. Leachman remains an IMTBC member.
Noah Hornick, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology, OHSU We also welcomed Pedram Gerami, MD, as the principal investigator at Northwestern University, as co-founder Jeffrey Wayne, MD, continues with IMTBC in a co-investigator role. Dr. Gerami is the director of the Skin Cancer Institute of Northwestern Medicine and the director of the Melanoma Program in the Skin Cancer Institute and the Melanoma clinic in the department of Dermatology.
We?re thrilled to grow the IMTBC team!
SUCCESS:
LEGISLATION, POLICY & ADVOCACY
High ligh t in g t h e n eed f or con sist en cy an d t r an spar en cy in clin ical t r ials AIM has always worked in multiple facets of advocacy for clinical trials, including educating patients about clinical trials and educating physicians about patient needs and wants in clinical trials. For example, many patients with cancer don?t realize that in a clinical trial, the arms will be a new treatment vs. the standard of care? no patient will ever get a placebo when they should get treatment. In this type of advocacy, AIM helps patients understand what is fact and what is fiction in clinical trials.
We also work with oncologists who are conducting clinical trials to make sure the trials work for patients. Samantha Guild (and before her, Val Guild) is the patient advocate for the ECOG-ACRIN (a national organization that runs clinical trials and research), and in this role assesses various aspects of current clinical trials from the patient perspective. For example, she is responsible for helping physicians understand the likely patient opinion on treatment detail (are the number of doctor visits too many for the average patient?), consent forms (will an average patient understand what they?re consenting to?), and cost (usually the costs are covered by the clinical trial, but sometimes certain costs can be excluded; is that cost prohibitive for patients?).
In July 2025, we began working on a very specific piece of advocacy related to clinical trials, when a treatment called RP1 in combination with nivolumab was denied approval by the FDA after the agency had previously given it a Breakthrough Therapy designation.
One of the key reasons given for the denial was that the clinical trial did not have a control arm. Oncologists involved in the clinical trial and the company that developed RP1 were highly critical of the FDA, saying that the FDA was well aware of the design of the clinical trial beforehand and had therefore, with this denial, ?moved the goalposts? at the 11th hour.
AIM at Melanoma became very involved in 2025 in the advocacy for the approval of this drug, but specifically, AIM noted to the FDA, in three letters, and to the general public, in a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal, that more was at stake than a treatment approval. We argued that FDA?s change of mind after years of agreement with the parameters and design of all phases of the RP1 clinical trials is a massive blindside hit to the patient community. Patients put themselves out to join trials. They often travel long distances, make financial sacrifices, and put their own health at risk by participating. Their caregivers make similar sacrifices. They are aware that the treatment in their trial may not benefit them, but they participate hoping to advance research and help others who are suffering. In return for their participation, they count on the approval of a treatment that is deemed safe and effective. Pat ien t s in all diseases w ill be less lik ely t o par t icipat e in t r ials if t h e r u les ar e ch an ged in t h e 11t h h ou r . Su ch beh avior m ak es pat ien t s f eel lik e t h eir par t icipat ion w as m ean in gless.
AIM will continue to work for consistency and transparency in clinical trials, so that patients continue to have trust in trials, so that we can continue find effective treatments for this devastating disease.
EDUCATION AND SUPPORT
SUCCESS:
AIM at Melanoma?s website is the most comprehensive website on melanoma in the United States? this has been true for years.
Expan sion of ou r in t er n at ion al of f er in gs In 2025, AIM at Melanoma launched an incredible new offering: We made our entire website?s contents available in translation in eight other languages: Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Croatian, Spanish, and Portuguese. At the top of any AIM at Melanoma webpage, visitors can find the translation buttons for all of these languages. Over half of our 100,000 website visitors each month in 2025 were not from the U.S., and we are now able to serve these visitors much better. Indeed, with the increased traffic to our website, our viewership for our webinars and patient educational events have reached more patients and families overseas. Another new offering that is international in nature is our rack cards. ?Rack card? is an industry term that simply means a small cardstock handout you?d find at a doctor ?s office or hospital (the size that fits into a ?rack? on the wall or counter, hence the name). These cards usually offer specific information on one topic, such as ?How to do a Skin Self-Exam? and are free for patients and families to take home. AIM has long produced rack cards for events, physician?s offices, hospitals, and so on. In 2025, we translated and acculturated all our rack cards to Spanish, and these are now available for use by all. Melanoma is an international disease, and we want our educational resources to reflect that.
SUCCESS: Recor d-br eak in g year s f or t w o of ou r Walk s
STEPS AGAINST MELANOMA WALKS
AIM had two important ?anniversary walks? this year: The Steps Against Melanoma Walk in Pittsburgh, PA, which celebrated its 10th year, and the KDB Walk, which celebrated its 20th anniversary. Both broke their own fundraising records! KDB: The KDB Melanoma 5K Run/Walk in Milford, MI, raised a record-breaking $105,566 in 2025. The event was started and led by Tricia Edwards in honor of her best friend, Kathy Denise Bowers, and over the past 20 years, Tricia and her dedicated friends and volunteer committee have built the event into a remarkable community tradition. Their long-term goal was to raise more than $1 million in support of melanoma research and education, and in 2025, they proudly surpassed that milestone. The event?s 20th anniversary was a powerful reminder of the lasting impact that one person, a dedicated group of volunteers, and a community committed to making a difference can have. Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh Steps Against Melanoma Walk celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2025, raising a record-breaking $80,122 and bringing its 10-year fundraising total to $477,768. The walk has been led by longtime volunteer Lisa Huntley, who lost her husband, Grant, to melanoma. Each year, a patient with melanoma from UPMC is honored at the walk, bringing a personal connection to the event and highlighting the patients, families, and caregivers impacted by melanoma. AIM is inspired by and incredibly grateful for Tricia, Lisa, and all others associated with these events. Thank you for all you?ve done for AIM and for melanoma research.
THANK YOU
HOWAIM AT MELANOMA USES FUNDS
AIM at Melanoma?s goal is to en d t h is disease in ou r lif et im e while im pr ovin g t h e lives of t h ose it af f ect s, and we are able to pursue this goal because of our supporters?generosity. We are committed to sou n d f in an cial pr act ices, t r an spar en cy, and accou n t abilit y, all of which are critical to attracting and keeping the generous funding that allows us to fulfill our mission. Thank you for your support and your trust.
AIM at Melanoma received $2,588,899 in contributions and grants in 2025. Our total revenue, including program service revenue and investment income was $2,671,461. We spent $1,838,518 on program service expenses, including a $295,000 grant to the tissue bank (IMTBC).
HOWWILL 2026 FINISH? Wh at w ill w e an n ou n ce as accom plish m en t s in t h e n ext an n u al r epor t ? -
The start of the first research project for IMTBC
-
AIM?s lead role in advocating for the approval of RP1+nivolumab
-
AIM?s efforts to reach rural, migrant, and other at-risk populations with education and services
-
The Milwaukee Steps Against Melanoma Walk?s record-breaking year
Head over to AIMatMelanoma.org for more! In addition to our generous donors, thank you to our Board of Directors and our Advisory Board.
Toget h er w e can en d m elan om a.