Our story
In 2021, Roald’s wife (Yam) began experiencing the first symptoms of a brain tumor. She suffered from headaches, would suddenly faint, and couldn’t remember words. Initially, this was thought to be caused by migraines and depression. After a scan, it quickly became clear that something was wrong. Yam had a brain tumor the size of an orange in her forehead.
Fortunately, she was able to have surgery quickly at Erasmus MC, and after the resection, the complaints disappeared. But, soon after, the mentally and physically demanding treatment process of radiation and chemotherapy. This treatment has remained almost unchanged for about 25 years, although its effectiveness is very limited.
Frustrated by the lack of effective treatments, Roald began to investigate why we’ve made very limited progress in the last 25 years. The answer to this question turns out to be quite simple in essence. The biological complexity combined with the rarity of this disease makes it unattractive for Big Pharma to invest money in it. This appears to be true not only for brain tumors but for many forms of rare cancers.
Hospitals conducting their own research often have only a few dozen patients who can be part of a study, while several thousand are needed. Although collaboration in this area is crucial, it happens too little for various reasons. From here, the idea arose to set up a foundation that makes it easy for hospitals to collaborate by removing as many obstacles to cooperation as possible. Hence the name “YAMICC“, which stands for ‘You And Me In Curing Cancer’.
You And Me In Curing Cancer
YAMICC
Our team
A small group of passionate and ambitious people. Alongside Yamicc’s core team works a specialised group of renowned medical experts, top researchers and seasoned board members to find the most effective treatments for rare cancer patients.
Roald Kruit
Co-Founder, Chairman Board
Roald was a co-founder of Mendix, which grew out to become the leading low-code platform in the world. With this experience he brings entrepreneurial drive and extensive IT knowledge to the foundation. The loss of his wife to brain cancer, makes him extremely motivated to make real impact.
Carli Wischhoff
Co-Founder, Head of Relations
Carli has a background in professional sports and has gained extensive experience in strategy and relationship management over the past years. Her father got diagnosed with a massive GIST tumor, luckily he is fully recovered through innovative targeted therapy. She experienced firsthand the enormous value of effective treatments on the life of a patient and their loved ones. She is highly driven to bring a community of experts together to find a cure for all rare cancers.
Clemens Dirven
Board Member
Clemens has been fighting brain tumours as a neurosurgeon and departmental head (at Erasmus MC) for his entire career. He distinguishes himself with his drive to pioneer in new treatments and focus on collaboration. This tremendous amount of (medical) experience is truly essential for the foundation.
Bert van der Schelde
Board Member
Bert is an experienced financial professional with in-depth knowledge of optimizing and structuring organizations. With years of experience in the business world, he brings valuable administrative expertise to Yamicc. His passion lies in building healthy, future-proof organizations that can maximize their impact. Thanks to his drive and substantive expertise, he contributes to a sustainable and transparent development of our mission and charitable cause.
Mark Wegman
Advisor Technology/AI
Mark has nearly 30 years of experience designing and building secure, large-scale, and data-intensive systems across industries. With a focus on AI and machine learning, he combines strategic insight with hands-on expertise to help turn complex ideas into reliable, scalable tools that support researchers in advancing cancer research.
Our approach
We believe in the power of focused work. Therefore, we will initially concentrate on one specific type of rare cancer: brain cancer. Once our approach is mature enough, we extend our work to other forms of rare cancers.
Instrumental in our approach is the collection of comprehensive datasets of these rare cancers in a standardized and structured manner. Varying from clinical to genetic data. This dataset forms the foundation for both fundamental and translational research .
The (prospective) dataset will initially be collected from clinical trials initiated by us in various hospitals. For example, we have developed the ‘ReDiReCCT-GB trial’ within Erasmus MC. In this clinical study, in principle, every new patient with a glioblastoma can participate and will be followed from diagnosis until the end. This data collection has the goal to find a (repurposed) drug specifically for the patient.
To facilitate and support the collection of the necessary data (typically from multiple sources at multiple sites), Yamicc will orchestrate a data-driven research platform that focuses on easily and securely collecting, processing, and sharing data in a governed way.
Our knowledge and expertise in applying innovative technologies, such as low-code and artificial intelligence, is not only crucial for the realization of this, but is also fundamentally different from other research platforms.
Last, but not least, we truly believe in the power of strong communities. Hence, we initiated a partner program consisting of other research institutions, medical organizations, NGOs and interest groups to collaborate in finding a cure together.
Our policy
In our policy plan you can read more about our key objectives, activities, and how we are organized to find more effective treatments for patients with an oncological orphan disease.
Additionally, Yamicc board members receive no remuneration for their work other than, for example, compensation for costs incurred and attendance fees. Our foundation acts entirely on a non-profit basis and therefore does not maintain more assets than is reasonably necessary for the continuity of the projects to achieve our goals.
Want to know more? Download our policy here!