Benaroya Research Institute sincerely thanks the Rasmuson Foundation of Anchorage, Alaska, for providing a $1 million grant to bring education and access to clinical trials to Alaskans suffering from autoimmune diseases, cancer and many other conditions.

• The grant enrolled a total of 87 Alaskans into clinical trials.
• They joined more than 30 different clinical trials for diseases including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, hepatitis and many types of cancer.
• Many of these patients graciously donated blood and tissue samples for the BRI biorepositories to help advance research.
• Alaskan study participants increased the understanding and treatment for a variety of diseases. For example, multiple Alaskans were enrolled onto a hepatitis C trial for a drug called Boceprevir. Based on this research, the drug has been approved by the FDA and is now the standard of care for treating hepatitis C.
• The grant provided participants with 431 round-trip visits to Seattle from Hoonah to Fairbanks and numerous cities in between.
• BRI and Virginia Mason staff provided health information to the state by talking with clinicians and attending health fairs and conferences.