Canary Foundation


The Canary Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering highly sensitive and specific biomarkers of early stage cancer and building tests for these markers. The goal is to identify cancer through a simple blood test, isolate the disease through medical imaging scans and then to intervene early enough to dramatically increase the chance of a full recovery with minimal side effects.
It was founded in 2004 by former Cisco executive vice president Don Listwin. Canary has assembled teams of cancer researchers recognized by their peers as leaders in their disciplines from across multiple institutions and disciplines to attack the problem of early detection in a new, collaborative, action-oriented manner with the foremost objective of translating research into clinical applications. Its Science Team includes Dr. Lee Hartwell, a Nobel Laureate, among its prestigious members, and has partnerships with a number of world-class cancer research centers including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Stanford University Medical Center, BC Cancer Agency, and University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
100% of donations goes to early detection research activities.
On June 2009, the Canary Foundation, together with Stanford University, has committed $20 million to the creation of a research center dedicated to improving cancer early detection.