{"entity":{"id":"sean-parker","kind":"person","name":"Sean Parker","aka":[],"tldr":"In 2016 he founded and funded an institute that runs cancer immunotherapy research as one network across a dozen leading cancer centres, sharing data, samples and patents rather than competing for them.","summary":"Sean Parker, the Napster co-founder and first president of Facebook, created the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in 2016 through the Parker Foundation. Rather than endowing one hospital, the gift built a network: PICI describes itself as an active research institute, not just a grant maker, whose model removes barriers between institutions and turns ideas into real-world treatments. Its member centres include Stanford Medicine, UCSF, Penn Medicine, Dana-Farber, Memorial Sloan Kettering and MD Anderson, twelve in all, working under shared agreements on data and intellectual property. PICI funds investigators, coordinates multi-centre trials of CAR-T and checkpoint combinations and has spun out companies to carry results forward. The size of the founding grant is widely reported but not stated on the Institute's own pages, so it is not repeated here.","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Parker","links":[{"label":"Parker Institute: about","url":"https://www.parkerici.org/about/"}],"tags":["hero","donor"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["immunotherapy","car-t","checkpoint-inhibitor"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["parker-institute","stanford","ucsf","penn-abramson","dana-farber","mskcc","md-anderson"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":["carl-june","james-allison"],"bottlenecks":["b-ip-collaboration","b-immunotherapy-response","b-funding-allocation"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Founder of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy","specialisms":["Cancer immunotherapy","Research networks","Philanthropy"],"profiles":[],"papers":[]},"route":"/people/sean-parker/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"immunotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Immunotherapy","route":"/fronts/immunotherapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"car-t","kind":"technology","name":"CAR-T cell therapy","route":"/technologies/car-t/"},{"id":"checkpoint-inhibitor","kind":"technology","name":"Immune checkpoint inhibitors","route":"/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/"}],"institution":[{"id":"penn-abramson","kind":"institution","name":"Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania","route":"/institutions/penn-abramson/"},{"id":"dana-farber","kind":"institution","name":"Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/dana-farber/"},{"id":"md-anderson","kind":"institution","name":"MD Anderson Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/md-anderson/"},{"id":"mskcc","kind":"institution","name":"Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/mskcc/"},{"id":"parker-institute","kind":"institution","name":"Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy","route":"/institutions/parker-institute/"},{"id":"stanford","kind":"institution","name":"Stanford Health Care / Stanford Cancer Institute","route":"/institutions/stanford/"},{"id":"ucsf","kind":"institution","name":"UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/ucsf/"}],"person":[{"id":"carl-june","kind":"person","name":"Carl H. June","route":"/people/carl-june/"},{"id":"james-allison","kind":"person","name":"James P. Allison","route":"/people/james-allison/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-funding-allocation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Funding follows fashion, not burden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/"},{"id":"b-immunotherapy-response","kind":"bottleneck","name":"No one can predict who responds to immunotherapy","route":"/bottlenecks/b-immunotherapy-response/"},{"id":"b-ip-collaboration","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration","route":"/bottlenecks/b-ip-collaboration/"}]}}