A partnership to develop cancer vaccines

For 10 years, the Parker Institute has been launching novel research aimed at ending cancer.

Dr. Karen Knudsen, left, CEO of the Parker Institute, and Kristen Dahlgren, a former NBC News journalist and a breast cancer survivor, see enormous potential in research of cancer vaccines. Dahlgren's Cancer Vaccine Coalition is now part of the Parker Institute.

Earlier this year, the Parker Institute added the Cancer Vaccine Coalition to the organization. Leaders from both groups say they are hoping to speed progress in the development of cancer vaccines.

Dr. Karen Knudsen, the CEO of the Parker Institute, tells Chief Healthcare Executive® that there was a great deal of synergy between the two organizations.

“There was a convergent evolution of the Parker Institute and the Cancer Vaccine Coalition starting to double down in the area of therapeutic vaccines,” Knudsen says. “That was happening at a strategy level with both of our organizations.”

She adds, “It started off with, here's what we want to do. We want more patients to benefit from science. How do we do more together?”

Chief Healthcare Executive, October 13, 2026, By Ron Southwick