We started Side-Out to challenge the foundations of cancer care.

A Message from our Founder

After my mother Gloria was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, we started the Side-Out Foundation in 2006 to challenge today’s cancer care. We believed if we could extend the lives of those living with the most advanced stage of breast cancer, we could really make a difference for everyone living with breast cancer. We decided to focus on more than just awareness and fundraising; we decided to go ten steps further. My father Bryant hired scientists and formed research teams so we could own, manage, and operate science that actively searches for answers and treatment options for those living with metastatic breast cancer. We don’t just fund research, we do research. Gloria wanted us to impact breast cancer in the most hands-on way possible. She wanted us to stay focused on action. Thanks to Side-Out Foundation supporters and researchers, we’re staying true to that mission.

Sincerely,

rick_signature-svg

Rick Dunetz

The Story Behind the Name

In volleyball, “side-out” means regaining control of the ball.

The Side-Out Foundation helps people with breast cancer regain control of their lives – and we started our fundraising efforts through the sport of volleyball. Our Executive Director and Founder, Rick Dunetz, was a high school volleyball coach when his mother, Gloria, was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. Together he and his father, Bryant, decided to tell her story, and the story of all those with metastatic breast cancer, through dedicated volleyball matches across the U.S., where communities would rally and fundraise to support breast cancer research. This is how Dig Pink was born – and it is still a central program of The Side-Out Foundation.

How We Operate

Our approach is different from many other nonprofits because we choose to own fund and manage our own clinical research. Here’s how it works.

Build Experiences icon

Build Experiences

We build experiences, both in-person and virtually, that connect individuals, businesses, teams, and others to honor those in their lives affected by all types of breast cancer.

Educate Communities Icon

Educate Communities

Through those experiences, we educate communities on the impact of metastatic breast cancer and why Side-Out’s research is so critical.

Develop Ambassadors

In those communities, we identify student Ambassadors to help amplify the Side-Out mission and engage the next generation.

Raise Funds icon

Raise Funds

We empower communities and Ambassadors to raise funds that go directly to our award-winning breast cancer research facilities, scientists, and oncologists across the U.S.

Clinical Trials Icon

Run Clinical Trials

Through a precision medicine approach, we develop and offer breast cancer clinical trials and solutions that help MBC patients live longer and more comfortably.

Share Findings Icon

Share Our Findings

We share our research so that treatments and findings can be applied around the world. We also make sure our community knows the progress they’ve helped us make.

Ready to help?

Meet Our Team

Rick Dunetz headshot

Rick Dunetz

Founder/chief vision officer

Ellen Dempsey Head Shot

Ellen Dempsey

Executive Director

Janice Kruger

Side-Out Brand Ambassador

Alex Chan Headshot

Alex Chan

Sr. community engagement leader

Megan Musca Headshot

megan musca

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LEADER

Amy Markland Head Shot

Amy markland

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LEADER

Gary Thompson Head Shot

Gary Thompson

board chair

Stephanie Reffey Headshot

Stephanie Reffey

director

Rick Dunetz headshot

Rick Dunetz

director

Tim Anderson Head Shot

Tim Anderson

Support Representative

Gabby Huff

Gabrielle Huff

Support Representative

Bryant Dunetz Headshot

bryant dunetz

RESEARCH ARCHITECT

Claudine Isaacs Headshot

Claudine Isaacs

Side-Out medical director

Chip Petricoin Headshot

Chip Petricoin

Side-Out medical advisor

Mariaelena Pierobon Headshots

Mariaelena Pierobon

Side-Out medical advisor

Claudine Isaacs Headshot

Claudine Isaacs

Side-Out medical director

Bryant Dunetz Headshot

bryant dunetz

RESEARCH ARCHITECT

Follow Our Progress

On social media to engage with advocates, patients, researchers and scientists who are working to improve the quality of life and treatment options for all those with metastatic breast cancer.

Rick Dunetz headshot

Founder/chief vision officer

Rick Dunetz

Rick’s passion for volleyball and his dual role as a coach and caregiver, led him to create the Side-Out Foundation in honor of his mother, Gloria, who lived with stage IV breast cancer for 6 years before passing in 2010.  Side-Out is now a leader in metastatic breast cancer research with the support of thousands of athletes, coaches, parents, and donors.  Rick’s passion for volleyball has never waned and he still coaches at the school where it all started.

Tel: 571-998-5252
Ellen Dempsey Head Shot

Executive Director

Ellen Dempsey

Ellen joins the Side-Out Foundation after a successful career in collegiate volleyball. Ellen’s teams participated in 11-NCAC Tournament Championships, 4-NCAA Tournaments, and she was named the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Coach of the Year, 4-times.

“My family has been touched deeply by breast cancer. I’ve spent my career building and fostering relationships. In some way, It feels that my life’s work has been to prepare me for this next, most important chapter, I am so excited to join the Side-Out Team!”

Tel: 571-998-5253

side-out brand ambassador

Janice Kruger

Janice coached college volleyball for thirty years – earning 10 conference titles, 6 Conference and AVCA Region Coach of the Year titles, and two NCAA Division II AVCA National Coach of the Year titles. In her spare time, you can find her out on her road bike, boating, playing pickleball, and cooking. Upon retiring from coaching, she was excited to combine her love of the sports community with Side-Out’s mission to advocate for patients living with breast cancer. 

Tel: 571-998-5254

Alex Chan Headshot

Senior community engagement leader, northeast

Alex Chan

Alex joined Side-Out after previously working at the nonprofit USTA Mid-Atlantic Section for 13 years, with his last role being the Associate Director of Community Engagement. He holds a Master in Professional Studies in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from UMBC and he is also a certified tennis coach. In his spare time he enjoys watching the latest movies & shows, playing tennis, and exploring his foodie side. Alex looks forward to using his skills to make a positive impact in the Side-Out community.

Tel: 571-998-5255

Megan Musca Headshot

community Engagement leader, south

Megan Musca

Megan is a wife, a volleyball mom and a Triple Negative Breast Cancer survivor. Megan joined Side-Out after attending Dig Pink events with her daughter’s club teams and wanted to get more involved. She loves that the amazing sport of volleyball brings athletes together to fundraise for MBC, and is creating advocates out of young women across the country. Megan’s mission is for the Atlanta area volleyball community to be more involved in Dig Pink rallies and to contribute to providing hope for a world without breast cancer. She resides in Marietta, GA with her husband, Joe, son Joey, daughter, Taryn and golden retriever, Charlie.

Tel: 571-998-5256

Amy Markland Head Shot

Community Engagement Manager

Amy Markland

Coming Soon

Tel: 571-998-2055

Chair of the board

Gary Thompson

Gary’s career spans technology, innovation, and building community. From his role as General Manager of Community and Experiences for the Executive Council to founding the Texas eCommerce Association in the late 1990s to his earliest days at Apple in sales and marketing in the late 1980s, Gary has always been at the forefront of change. Gary has spoken from 4 different TED stages from Austin to Malaysia to Rome to Dublin and served two different Governors in Texas as an appointee to eGovernment Task Forces and boards in the early days of eCommerce and the World Wide Web. The morning of 10.21.2014 changed everything when his wife, Maureen, and mother of three (then 15, 13, and 11) took her last breath as a result of metastatic breast cancer and pleural effusions in her lungs. Gary’s cancer advocacy over the past decade has been well recognized, but as he notes, “watching my daughters harness their love of volleyball and their mom at their Dig Pink games to advance cures for others with metastatic breast cancer shows the power of both a game, and love, to make a difference.”

Stephanie Reffey Headshot

Director

Stephanie Reffey

Stephanie Birkey Reffey, Ph.D. is the Patient Advocacy and Alliance Relations Director for Precision Oncology at Exact Sciences. Prior to Exact Sciences, Stephanie spent 10 years in various roles at Susan G. Komen and 8 years at SAIC, Inc. (currently Leidos) supporting the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. She began her career in cancer research, completing a B. S. in Zoology from Olivet Nazarene University, a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD.

SIDE-OUT research architect

Bryant Dunetz

Bryant started with Side-Out in 2008 as the Chief Operating Officer and partner with his son Rick.  In 2009 Bryant, had a organization changing conversation  with a man by the name of Dr. Daniel Von Hoff and together they created a first in kind clinical trial with a focus on precision medicine for people living with metastatic breast cancer.  Since then Bryant has led an interdisciplinary team of amazing scientists from across the cancer world to complete three clinical trials all of which have proven that precision medicine works.  Today Bryant enjoys working with his horses at his farm in Bluemont, VA.

Chip Petricoin

Side-out Medical advisor

Emanuel Petricoin

Dr. Emanuel F Petricoin has been the Co-Director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) at George Mason University since 2005, where he is a University Professor. Prior to this position, he served as Co-Director of the FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program and a Senior Investigator within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA from 1993-2005. Dr. Petricoin received his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Maryland in 1990. 

Mariaelena Pierobon Headshot

side-out Medical advisor

Mariaelena Pierobon

The primary focus of my research is the delivery and implementation of precision medicine for cancer patients. My personal mantra is “Discover and heal.” I am thrilled by the challenge of uncovering new therapeutic opportunities for cancer patients and devising ways of translating them to large-scale healing opportunities. My research model is based on a combination of translational studies and clinical trials with a focus on metastatic disease and on the tumor microenvironment.