The NCI-designated Cancer Centers are a major source of discovery of the nature of cancer and of the development of more effective approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and therapy. They also deliver medical advances to patients and their families, educate health-care professionals and the public, and reach out to underserved populations. They are characterized by strong organizational capabilities, institutional commitment, and trans-disciplinary, cancer-focused science; experienced scientific and administrative leadership, and state-of-the-art cancer research and patient care facilities.

NCI-designated Cancer Centers are funded through the P30 Cancer Center Support Grant. These awards fund formal research programs that foster interactions between basic laboratory, clinical, and population scientists; access for investigators to shared services and technologies that are necessary to their research efforts; and other scientific infrastructure. Requests from eligible institutions are subjected to a competitive peer review process that evaluates and ranks applications according to their merit.