The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced that the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation (FCF) is among a select group of patient-led rare disease organizations, including rare cancer foundations, to receive a CZI Rare As One Network grant.

Founded by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015, CZI is committing $13.5 million to the Rare As One Project to support and lift up the work patient communities are doing to accelerate research and drive progress in the fight against rare diseases, like fibrolamellar carcinoma.

“No one is more committed to finding cures for rare diseases than the patients, and families of those affected by these disorders,” said Priscilla Chan, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of CZI. “We are proud to support patient-led organizations as they pursue diagnoses, information, and treatment options in partnership with researchers and clinicians.”

In this new program, CZI will be providing funding, training, community mentorship, and capacity-building services to assist FCF as it pursues diagnoses, information, and treatment options in partnership with researchers and clinicians. FCF is honored to be selected for this grant and looks forward to working closely with CZI and the other Rare As One grant recipients over the next few years.

“Our Foundation has grown tremendously over the past 10 years since it was founded by our son Tucker, before he lost his battle with this cancer,” said Marna Davis, Co-Chairman of FCF. “We’re confident that the CZI partnership will spread awareness and help FCF continue to pursue its mission of finding a cure for this disease.”

STAT, a biopharma, health policy and life science newsletter, reported on the Rare as One program announcement in this article.

For more information on the Rare as One Project and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, please visit CZI’s web site.