Cancer control research may be categorized as behavioral, psychosocial, epidemiologic, preclinical, clinical or health policy/health services-related. According to John Stevens, MD, vice president for extramural grants at the ACS, this type of research picks up where basic science research leaves off. Cancer control research contributes valuable information about many aspects of cancer, particularly the role of human behavior on cancer risk factors related to lifestyle choices.

Modifications to the Society’s research program are based on recommendations made in November 1999 by a Blue Ribbon Committee on Research and Health Professional Training Grants.

This expert panel was charged by the Society’s Board of Directors with evaluating the research program and suggesting ways the program might better support the Society’s ambitious goals for reducing the cancer burden and improving the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors in the coming years.

"We’d like to emphasize that the Society’s support of basic science research will continue at its same strong level of about $75 million a year," says Harmon Eyre, MD, chief medical officer for the Society. "Our goal is to bring the Society’s support of cancer control research up to that same level."

In addition, the Blue Ribbon Committee recommended that research project grants be made more competitive by increasing both the amount and duration of the awards, a necessary step to attract the best and brightest minds into cancer research. Finally, in recognition of the lack of junior investigators trained in psychosocial, behavioral, health services, and health policy and outcomes research, the committee recommended that grants in these areas be open to investigators at all stages of their careers, with the suggestion that the inclusion of a junior researcher as a co-principal investigator be strongly encouraged.

New grant categories include the following:

Research Scholar Grants for Beginning Investigators are awarded to support basic, preclinical, clinical or epidemiologic research projects initiated by investigators in the first eight years of their independent research careers. Initial awards are made for up to four years and up to $250,000 per year, including 25 percent indirect costs. These grants may be renewed for up to four years.

Research Scholar Grants in Psychosocial & Behavioral Research are awarded to support research projects centered on the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of cancer. These awards are for independent investigators at any stage in their career.

Applications are encouraged in which an individual at an early career stage is co-principal investigator with an established researcher. Initial awards are made for up to five years and up to $500,000 per year, including 25 percent indirect costs. These grants may be renewed once for up to five years.

Research Scholar Grants for Health Services and Health Policy and Outcomes Research are awarded to support research projects centered on health services and health policy and outcomes research that are initiated by investigators at any stage of their careers. Initial awards are made for up to four years and up to $250,000 per year, including 25 percent indirect costs. These grants may be renewed once for up to four years.

Deadlines for the three new grants are April 1 and Oct. 15. Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible.

Applications for these new grants may be submitted electronically via the ACS website, www.cancer.org. A complete listing and descriptions of all grants, full eligibility requirements, grant policies, application forms and a staff listing may also be obtained via the ACS website.

The three new grant programs replace the former American Cancer Society Research Project Grants. Other ACS research and health professional training grants and their deadlines include the following:

• Postdoctoral Fellowships – Deadlines: March 1 and Oct. 1
• Clinical Research Training Grants for Junior Faculty – Deadlines: March 1 and Oct. 1
• Institutional Research Grants – Deadline: Oct. 1
• Targeted Grants for Research Directed at Poor and Underserved Populations – Deadline: varies with program
• Research Opportunity Grants – Ongoing; no fixed deadline
• Research Professorships – Deadline: March 1
• Clinical Research Professorships – Deadline: Oct. 1
• Cancer Control Career Development Awards for Primary Care Physicians –Deadline: Oct. 1
• Master’s and Post-Master’s Training Grants in Clinical Oncology Social Work – Deadline: Oct. 1
• Physician Training Awards in Preventive Medicine – Deadline: May 1
• Master’s and Doctoral Degree Scholarships in Cancer Nursing – Deadline: Dec. 15
• Audrey Meyer Mars International Fellowships in Clinical Oncology – Deadline: Jan. 15
• International Fellowships for Beginning Investigators – Deadline: Oct. 1

The American Cancer Society is the largest nongovernment funder of cancer research in the United States.

During 1999, the Society awarded 375 extramural research grants, many to young investigators at the beginning of their careers who might otherwise have not been funded.

Since the research program began in 1946, the Society has spent more than $2.2 billion on research and has helped support the research of 30 Nobel Prize winners, a record of cancer research achievement unparalleled in the private sector. The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service.



Joann Schellenbach

American Cancer Society
212-382-2169
jschelle@cancer.org