The Mark Hughes Foundation will give $1 million for a new project with Carrie Bickmore's brain cancer mission in Melbourne in a bid to boost treatment for the disease.
Mr Hughes, a two-time premiership winner with the Newcastle Knights, said a "one-team mentality" was crucial in the fight against brain cancer.
The money will support a partnership between University of Newcastle's Mark Hughes Foundation [MHF] Centre for Brain Cancer Research and Ms Bickmore's Brain Cancer Centre.
Professor Mike Fay, director of the MHF centre, said the university was "extremely grateful to the Mark Hughes Foundation and the community for the support".
"It really helps us move things ahead."
Mr Hughes, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013, said collaboration between leaders, experts and innovators would lead to progress.
The foundation that he and wife Kirralee founded hit the $30 million fundraising milestone last year, eight years after it was formed.
"Mark and I have always thought it would be awesome to work with Carrie Bickmore," Mrs Hughes said.
"We have a long history with Carrie and Sam. They have created huge awareness for brain cancer."
Brain Cancer Centre chief executive Sam McGuane said it was a "dream come true to work with Mark and Kirralee and the University of Newcastle".
"Carrie's involvement is always focused on how we make progress in brain cancer research collaboratively," Mr McGuane said.
Ms Bickmore lost husband Greg Lange to brain cancer in 2010, after a 10-year battle.
"I think I was still 21 or 22 and he was about 25 [when diagnosed]," she said in 2018.
The $1 million project will establish a "National Collaboration Seed Fund" for research.
The seed fund's first project will support the MHF centre to become part of the Melbourne centre's brain tumour registry.
"Brain cancer is relatively uncommon. Of all the cancers, about 1 per cent are brain cancers," Professor Fay said.
"In the Hunter, we probably see about 80 to 100 new patients a year.
"There's 14 centres now involved in the registry, which has thousands of patients' data."
The registry helped to produce data "much more quickly" to help the research cause.
Professor Fay said brain cancer outcomes had "improved only slightly in the past three decades".
"Sadly, around 1600 Australians are diagnosed with brain cancer each year and around 1200 die from the disease."
Of those who do survive, there's much to learn.
"We have a group of patients who have survived for a long time," he said.
"There are probably things about their cancer that are slightly different that make them more susceptible to treatment.
"We're trying to turn as many patients as we see into those long-term patients."
The Hughes and Bickmore foundations have both used the "beanies for brain cancer" phrase to raise money for the cause.
"We might have a national beanie day one day. You never know," Mrs Hughes said.
Mr McGuane said the question was "how big can this partnership be".
"This is really the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we're capable of," he said.
