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Research

Grants & Awards

The American Cancer Society is the largest private source of cancer research funds in the United States, second only to the federal government's National Cancer Institute in total dollars spent.

In fiscal year 1994, the Society invested over $98 million in research - almost 26% of its budget. To date, the Society has invested more than $1.7 billion in cancer research. The research program consists of three components: extramural grants and awards, intramural epidemiology and surveillance research, and the new intramural behavioral research unit.

Grants and Awards

The extramural program supports investigator-initiated projects taking place in leading centers across the country. Applications for grants are subjected to a rigorous external peer review which ensures that only the highest quality applications receive funding. The success of the Society's research program is exemplified by the fact that 28 Nobel Prize winners received grant support from the Society early in their careers.

Epidemiology and Surveillance

The Society supports an active program of epidemiologic research at its National Home Office. This program consists of ongoing surveillance of cancer occurrence and cancer risk in Americans, and it analyzes patterns of cancer causation in large prospective studies. Three such studies have been undertaken over the past 40 years:

The Hammond-Horn Study (188,000 men studied from 1952-1955)
Cancer Prevention Study I (1 million persons studied from 1959-1972 in 25 states)
Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS II, a continuing study of 1.2 million person enrolled in 1982 by 77,000 volunteers in 50 states)

Each CPS II participant completed a questionnaire about lifestyle, illnesses, family history, and environmental exposures. In 1992-93, further questionnaire data, with emphasis on diet, were obtained from 160,000 participants. Ongoing CPS II analyses relate patterns of cancer occurrence to questionnaire risk profiles.

Behavioral Research Unit

If everyone followed the guidelines of the American Cancer Society for diet, lifestyle, and screening, at least half of the new cases and deaths from cancer could be prevented. In 1995, the Society inaugurated an intramural behavioral research unit to address the topic of how people can adopt more healthy behaviors. The unit will conduct original research into the psychologic and physiologic factors that determine motivation and behavior. It will also monitor behavioral research from all scientific fields for results applicable to cancer, identify critical gaps in knowledge and develop studies to fill those gaps. The unit will work with scientists, social workers, and community leaders to implement existing knowledge about the prevention, early detection and cure of cancer.

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