Dellann Elliott Mydland

Dellann co-founded the EndBrainCancer Initiative | Chris Elliott Fund with her late husband, Christopher Stewart Elliott, shortly before he passed away in June of 2002 from brain cancer, specifically from Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM). Working tirelessly on behalf of cancer & brain tumor patients, caregivers and their families for over 18 years, Dellann is, at once, a patient advocate, entrepreneur, educator, mentor, visionary, and creator of a unique “Customer Support” & “Direct Connect” model. This model benefits patients and their families and the research community alike, in that it directly connects newly diagnosed, recurrent and metastatic brain cancer patients across the country with top brain tumor neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, rad-once, principal investigators, genomic & molecular profiling, advanced treatments, clinical trials, immunology/vaccines, and personalized medicine. Dellann views immediate access to all of the above as essential for providing HOPE to the brain tumor patient community, improving patient outcomes, quality of life, advancing research, improving clinical trial development access as well as improving the Standard of Care for all patients. Dellann is a skilled public advocate, testifying at hearings for new treatment options/FDA approval and proper reimbursement coding for treatments/devices in Washington, D.C. and around the country, educating legislatures/doctors/patients personally and through multimedia educational campaigns while driving collaboration within the research community at all junctures. She is a regular contributor to a leading brain tumor and oncology patient awareness and education publications and actively participates as a Patient Advocate providing the “Patient Voice” for cancer and brain cancer clinical trials to multiple Clinical Trail Organizations (CRO’s) and Institutions while also sitting on multiple Patient Advocacy Industry Boards. Dellann sits on the Patient Advocacy Committee as well as the Brain Tumor Patient Advocacy Committee for NRG Oncology/NCI where she participates in reading and advising from a patient perspective on which clinical trials that have been submitted to the NCI for funding need a clinical trial redesign to bring in the patient voice and/or which clinical trials should go forward or not. All of her and her organization’s advocacy and services work is designed to increase the number of recruiting clinical trials available to patients and to use personalized medicine to triage the right patient into the right clinical trial for the greatest impact on patient survivorship and to drive and fuel research. Under Dellann’s leadership, the EndBrainCancer Initiative became the first brain tumor patient advocacy and services organization to obtain CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) certification related to clinical trials. Dellann has also been honored by Harvard University as a National Glioblastoma Patient Advocate, and the National Brain Tumor Society among many others. Dellann is the mother of two grown children. Before creating the EndBrainCancer Initiative | Chris Elliott Fund, she served as an environmental regulator and as an early childhood educator at a local Washington state elementary school, specializing in educating Down syndrome children. Dellann and the EndBrainCancer Initiative are members of the Fred Hutchinson Center for Outcomes Research (HICOR) “Outcomes of Care” Working Group, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO), the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, the American

Association for Cancer Research, and Life Sciences Washington, Women in Bio, among other organizations. In November 2016, Dellann was nominated for and won the National campaign for CURE Media Group’s annual “GBM Hero’s Award”, receiving national recognition for her work and contributions to making a difference in the lives of brain cancer patients and their families in the Society of Neuro-Oncology (SNO) annual meeting and routinely is a contributing author to CURE Magazine in both print and digital outlets. Dellann most recently finished her Patient Advocate role for the VIGILENT Adaptive GBM Clinical Trial and is currently the Patient Advocate for NCI/Wake Forest/Baptist Medical Center “Novel Therapies for Glioblastoma” SPORE Research Projects. Dellann’s goal is to provide immediate access to advanced therapies/clinical trials and to specialists for all patients and to improve both patient and research outcomes through education, awareness, outreach and clinical trial redesign with a focus on personalized medicine/P4 Medicine, allowing genomics to inform treatment to concur cancer.