This past weekend, Ian's Friends Foundation hosted the 2026 WhatIFF Symposium in Atlanta, bringing together pediatric brain tumor researchers from around the world.

What makes WhatIFF different is the room itself. These aren't researchers working in silos. They collaborate across institutions and borders, challenge each other's thinking, and accelerate work that might otherwise take decades. IFF exists to remove every barrier between a promising idea and the funding it needs. No bureaucracy. No overhead. Just science, moving as fast as the children who are waiting for it. We are grateful to every researcher, family, donor, and sponsor who makes this possible. And we are especially excited to announce this year’s winners: (1) Daniel Heller, PhD | Memorial Sloan Kettering @memorialsloankettering (2) Giuseppe Longobardi, PhD | Tel Aviv University @tauinternational (3) Praveen Raju, MD, PhD | Rady Children's Hospital and UCSD @teamrady + @ucsandiego #PediatricBrainTumorResearch #WhatIFFSymposium #IFF