--- title: Sean Parker to Donate $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy description: The Napster co-founder is setting up a new institute canonical: https://time.com/4291890/sean-parker-to-donate-250-million-to-cancer-immunotherapy-research/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-13T11:56:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:41:37.156Z article:section: Health og:title: Sean Parker Donates $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy Research og:description: The Napster co-founder is setting up a new institute og:url: https://time.com/4291890/sean-parker-to-donate-250-million-to-cancer-immunotherapy-research/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1d87dd70939b1f8/69888ee5428a9e57c7cd2329/sean-parker-donate-cancer-research.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sean Parker og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sean Parker Donates $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy Research twitter:description: The Napster co-founder is setting up a new institute twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1d87dd70939b1f8/69888ee5428a9e57c7cd2329/sean-parker-donate-cancer-research.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sean Parker to Donate $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy Research by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 13, 2016 11:56 AM CUT  Sean Parker on Jan. 9, 2016 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Sean Parker on Jan. 9, 2016 in Beverly Hills, Calif.Jordan Strauss—Invision/AP by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 13, 2016 11:56 AM CUT The co-founder of Napster and founding president of Facebook has set his sights on a new kind of innovation: [cancer immunotherapy research](http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/sean-parker-donates-250-million-launch-cancer-immunotherapy-institute-n555196 "undefined"). Sean Parker has announced he will donate $250 million to establish the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. This field of research focuses on fighting cancer cells by triggering “the immune system’s ability to seek out and destroy invaders,” as TIME explained in a [recent cover story](http://time.com/4270345/immunotherapy-pembro-clinical-trials-cancer/ "undefined"). The method of treatment has gained awareness in recent months after former President Jimmy Carter saw success in treating his melanoma with an immunotherapy drug, but it is still in its early phases. Parker’s institute will join together 300 researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering, Stanford Medicine, UCLA, UC San Francisco, MD Anderson and Penn, Reuters reports. Instead of institutions competing with each other, Parker believes his method will foster collaboration that will help progress move more quickly. “Any breakthrough made at one center is immediately available to another center without any kind of IP (intellectual property) entanglements or bureaucracy,” he said. The news comes just months after President Obama called for a “[moonshot](http://time.com/4178742/cancer-moonshot-obama/ "undefined")” to cure cancer in his final [State of the Union ](http://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/ "undefined")address. \[[Reuters](http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/sean-parker-donates-250-million-launch-cancer-immunotherapy-institute-n555196 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4291890/sean-parker-to-donate-250-million-to-cancer-immunotherapy-research/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4291890/sean-parker-to-donate-250-million-to-cancer-immunotherapy-research/"},"headline":"Sean Parker to Donate $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy Research","datePublished":"2016-04-13T11:56:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:41:37.156Z","description":"The Napster co-founder is setting up a new institute","url":"https://time.com/4291890/sean-parker-to-donate-250-million-to-cancer-immunotherapy-research/","keywords":["Cancer"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1d87dd70939b1f8/69888ee5428a9e57c7cd2329/sean-parker-donate-cancer-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1d87dd70939b1f8/69888ee5428a9e57c7cd2329/sean-parker-donate-cancer-research.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sean Parker","caption":"Sean Parker on Jan. 9, 2016 in Beverly Hills, Calif.","creditText":"Jordan Strauss—Invision/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cancer/","name":"Cancer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4291890/sean-parker-to-donate-250-million-to-cancer-immunotherapy-research/","name":"Sean Parker to Donate $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy Research"}}]}] ```