NCI Is Driving Discovery in Cancer Research
NCI enables advances in cancer by investing in a broad portfolio of research, supporting the cancer research workforce, and sustaining the infrastructure that enables cutting-edge research to succeed.
Supporting High-Impact Cancer Research
NCI funds the most promising research in established areas of science and seizes opportunities in emerging areas of science. NCI-supported research is underway in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and beyond.
Investing across the Cancer Continuum
NCI’s overarching strategy focuses on supporting a broad portfolio of research, tackling the problem of cancer from many angles. Basic, translational, and clinical research is essential to improve cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.
Cancer biology research supported by NCI drives virtually all major advances made against cancer.
Cancer prevention research by NCI-funded investigators has contributed to the decline in the overall rate of cancer incidence in the United States during the last 25 years.
Cancer detection and diagnosis research funded by NCI supports improvements in the identification and characterization of cancer and its precursors.
Cancer treatment research funded by NCI, including basic and preclinical studies and the testing of new agents in clinical trials, has aided the development of most of the cancer therapies available today.
Public health and cancer control research by NCI-funded investigators has improved the delivery of cancer care and enabled new interventions to improve cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and survivorship.
Highlighted Scientific Opportunities
NCI continually pursues new and emerging scientific opportunities that, with further investment, would catalyze additional progress in cancer research. Read about four areas of opportunity highlighted in the Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Plan and Budget Proposal: cancer drug resistance, molecular diagnostics for cancer treatment, cancer survivorship, and obesity and cancer.
Strengthening the Cancer Research Enterprise
NCI has built and supported an infrastructure—consisting of people working in science and the places at which they work—that has become known as the cancer research enterprise. NCI’s investments in the cancer research workforce and in world-class facilities and resources include the following:
- Training the next generation of cancer researchers and building and sustaining a talented and diverse workforce will poise the cancer research community to make the breakthroughs of the future.
- NCI-Designated Cancer Centers develop and translate scientific knowledge from promising laboratory discoveries into new treatments for patients with cancer.
- NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) conduct cancer prevention, treatment, and cancer care delivery research in diverse settings throughout the United States, Canada, and internationally.
- NCI partners with federal and private-sector organizations to facilitate complex research programs that spur innovation, ensure the judicious use of public resources, and continue to help reduce the burden of cancer in the United States and beyond.