Alison Stout from Kirkland will run in the 115th Boston Marathon on April 18 to help conquer cancer as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team.

Stout, along with Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge teammates from across the U.S. and around the world, will run Massachusetts’ historic marathon route from Hopkinton to Boston with a goal to raise $4.5 million for cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Members of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team make a basic fundraising commitment of $3,250, a requirement established by the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), the Boston Marathon organizer. One hundred percent of the funds raised benefit the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber, which funds basic research in its earliest stages, providing scientists with critical resources to test their innovative ideas. Findings from this research can provide novel clinical insights as well as the foundation to seek additional federal funding support.

Since its inception in 1990, the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge has raised more than $47 million for the Barr Program. Dana-Farber Trustees and Jacksonville Jaguars principal owners J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver founded the Barr Program in 1987 to honor Mrs. Weaver’s mother, Claudia Adams Barr, who lost her battle with cancer 30 years earlier.

To contribute to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge or to support a runner, go online to www.RunDFMC.org.