The Cancer Foundation is dedicated to disease prevention and cure based on innovative and often difficult basic laboratory research to open new translational medicine pathways.

As a Ph.D. chemistry/biophysics student at Florida State University, Dr. Thornthwaite developed a great appreciation of immunology.  In 1972, he discovered what is not called the Natural Killer Cell (NKC), which is our Gog-given defense against cancer and viral disease.  He has helped develop patented instrumentation, reagents and clinical procedures in founding the two largest Immuno-Oncology Laboratories in Miami at Cedars Medical Center and Baptist Hospital.  His clinical research during this time resulted in the formation of the 501(c)3 Cancer Research Institute of South Florida/West Tennessee (CRISF/CRIWT).  Over the past 48 years, the CRISF has expanded into the CRIWT in 1997 in Henderson, TN with over 5,000 sq. ft. of research space containing about $500,000 worth of research equipment.

The basis for most of our progress in immunological care is based on the research accomplishments of this Cancer Research Institute of South Florida and West Tennessee over the past 48 years.  This research can be traced back to Dr. Thornthwaite's research in discovering NKCs, the Natural Killer Cells in 1972.

Unfortunately, most cancer therapeutic research has not focused on maximizing the body's natural immunology defense mechanisms until recently, but instead has focused on the traditional ways to treat cancer.  Dr.  Thornthwaite, over the past four decades, has worked to unlock the secrets of our body's inherent immunological defense mechanisms.  The knowledge Dr. Thornthwaite gained during his NKC research has aided him in making several major immunological advances.