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research From ideas to implementation: how grants fund cancer research The American Cancer Society currently funds more than $441 million in cancer research grants, with almost $25 million at work in the Great Lakes Division. Within the division, ACS-funded research currently takes place at seven institutions: the University of Michigan, the VanAndel Research Institute, Wayne State University, the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University at Indianapolis, Purdue University, and Indiana University at Bloomington.
Funding is often particularly hard to obtain during the early years of a researcher’s career. However, ACS has focused its efforts on researchers who are within the first six years of their independent academic appointments. Forty-two ACS-funded researchers have been awarded the Nobel Prize early in their careers, including Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D., of the University of Utah and Oliver Smithies, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina, two of the 2007 Laureates in Physiology or Medicine. Beginning investigators currently account for 83 percent of grants in effect. Twice a year, usually in January and June, 18 discipline-specific Peer Review Committees review grant applications. Each committee, composed of 10-25 scientific advisors, ranks the applications on basis of merit. The Council for Extramural Grants, a committee of senior scientists, then reviews the findings of the Peer Review Committees and recommends funding based on the relative merit of the proposals, the Society’s mission and the funds available. Indiana researchers currently receive more than $8.3 million to fund a large variety of projects. Celeste Phillips-Salimi, MSN, BSN at Indiana University of Indianapolis, for example, is studying the way adolescent patients connect to their health care providers, with the hopes that this information will help young adult cancer survivors to better manage their health. In Michigan, more than $14 million in grants is currently funding researchers such as Dr. Arden Morris at the University of Michigan, whose research hopes to evaluate racial differences in surgical treatment of colorectal cancer and find specific ways to improve care. In some cases, projects are approved as worthy of funding, but there are not funds available. These are identified as "pay ifs" – they will receive grant money should it become available, which is why the American Cancer Society relies on your continued support to help researchers find a cure. For more information on the Society’s research program and funding, visit www.cancer.org/research. | |
To date, ACS has spent over $3.1 billion on cancer research and training. Much of this money has been spent to support junior investigators in the hopes of not only advancing knowledge about cancer, but also to promote a new generation of scientists for the future. |
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