YES on Prop 38 Podcast Series Shares Five Conversations with Californians Whose Lives Depend on Medical Research

Survivors, caretakers, and medical experts explain in their own words why they support Prop 38

SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, November 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The campaign for YES on Proposition 38, the Immunology Medical Research & Cures Initiative, released five podcast episodes featuring Californians who understand the importance of medical research in developing treatments and providing hope to millions of families dealing with devastating diseases.

The podcast series features a father whose lymphoma went into remission after receiving immunotherapy, a Blood Cancer United advocate who has seen clinical trials stop mid-study when federal funding disappeared and a daughter who is watching her mother’s life drastically change from her Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

The series, “Yes on Proposition 38: Immunology Medical Research & Cures,” is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube and Substack.

Andrew Dale was diagnosed with lymphoma at 45. When chemotherapy stopped working, immunotherapy took over, and he is now in remission. His daughter, Zoe Dale, was six when he got sick. Now a college political science student, she is about to vote in her first election.

“We're in a world right now that is a little scary,” Zoe said. “But we as young adults and as the future generation have the power to do something about it. That starts here.”

Alicia Truelove, a registered nurse for 16 years and a mom of two boys, waited about two years for a diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disorder, then spent about a year cycling through about six medications while her inflammation markers stayed high.

“It came into play when everything else didn't work,” Truelove said of immunotherapy. “Everything completely disappeared overnight. I had never thought that I would get to a point where I would have no symptoms at all.”

Viva Mogi has cared for her mother, who has Alzheimer's, for more than a decade, moving back to Los Angeles full-time after 18 years away. What stays with her is how little her family was offered at diagnosis.

“They kind of just wished us luck,” Mogi said. “And I want it to be different for other families.”

Dr. Joe Sabatino, a neurologist and assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, treats patients with multiple sclerosis and other neuroinflammatory disorders with immunotherapies. He described moving an idea from the lab to an FDA-approved therapy as “traditionally a decades-long process,” carried by many scientists and clinicians building on each other's work.

“All of those people need to have reliable, dedicated funding for each part of the process that they're involved in,” Dr. Sabatino said. “You can imagine if you start pulling the rug out at any of those steps, the work will be paused initially, and if that pause goes on too long, it's gonna be very difficult to renew again.”

Adam Zarrin, Director of State Government Affairs at Blood Cancer United, described what federal cuts have meant for patients already enrolled in trials.

“We've had patients and researchers in the middle of a clinical trial say, 'We have to stop because we no longer have funding from the federal government,'” Zarrin said. “That's bad for the science, and it's also bad for the patient. The ideal situation is that a California patient can go to a California doctor at a California hospital and get treatment in California.”

Prop 38 will provide $8.4 billion in vitally needed funding to accelerate immunology research to help cure and prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and other persistent diseases.

Immunotherapies harness the body’s own immune system to prevent and treat diseases, and they are already successfully treating patients with melanoma, lung cancer, leukemia and lymphoma. Prop 38 will fund the next generation of this research for other devastating diseases, like Parkinson’s, diabetes, ALS, muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

Uncertainty in federal research funding halted at least 160 active clinical trials nationwide in 2025, stalling discoveries at the exact moment medical research has momentum.

Prop 38 is designed to pay for itself. Ten percent of all proceeds from the licensing of immunotherapies must be returned to California to offset the measure’s total costs, including interest. Additionally, any cure or immunotherapy developed will be provided to California patients at a 20 percent discount below the national average. Prop 38 also includes strict accountability requirements, including:
- Two percent cap on state administrative expenses
- Public disclosure of spending
- Independent financial audits
- For-profit corporations are not eligible for grant funding

Learn more at YESon38.com, including a coalition list and what supporters are saying.

Robin Swanson
YES on Prop 38
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