Español
PDFs by language
Our 24/7 cancer helpline provides information and answers for people dealing with cancer. We can connect you with trained cancer information specialists who will answer questions about a cancer diagnosis and provide guidance and a compassionate ear.
Chat live online
Select the Live Chat button at the bottom of the page
Call us at 1-800-227-2345
Available any time of day or night
Our highly trained specialists are available 24/7 via phone and on weekdays can assist through online chat. We connect patients, caregivers, and family members with essential services and resources at every step of their cancer journey. Ask us how you can get involved and support the fight against cancer. Some of the topics we can assist with include:
For medical questions, we encourage you to review our information with your doctor.
Research We Fund: Extramural Discovery Science
The American Cancer Society (ACS) believes that everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer (Alcaraz et al, 2020).
Societal conditions where people are born, grow up, live, worship, and age, have a profound effect on their health status and their ability to access cancer care and to carry out care recommendations (Alfano et al, 2020; Braveman, 2017).
This funding is intended to support the formation of Cancer Health Equity Research Centers (CHERCs) designed to target cancer health disparities that are unique to a local or regional community. We anticipate this funding will stimulate novel collaborations and approaches to mitigate societal risk factors and contribute to our goals for achieving health equity and reducing cancer mortality.
New applications will be accepted in 2025.
Check back in early 2025 for updates to the timeline.
Questions: Please contact joanne.elena@cancer.org
Addressing the root causes of cancer health disparities in the context of the social determinants of health is needed to accelerate progress in health equity research. This requires addressing obstacles to health caused by poverty and discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care (Alcaraz et al, 2020).
Cancer health disparities largely result from inequities in wealth leading to differences in exposures to risk factors and barriers to high‐quality cancer care (Siegel et al, 2021). Societal factors, such as structural racism, have downstream effects on the ability for some population groups to thrive. Discriminatory practices such as redlining impede access to home ownership and to a quality education, which impacts a person's level of educational attainment and employment, and thus, the degree of wealth. Interrelated factors of racism, discrimination, education, employment, wages, neighborhood, health insurance coverage, and access to care all intersect to impact health outcomes.
Ideally, everyone diagnosed with cancer should be able to receive high-quality cancer care (Yabroff et al, 2020). New cancer technologies and treatments can cause or exacerbate health disparities due to access or affordability barriers (Elmore et al, 2021). For example, being able to access a clinical trial offers the opportunity for people living with cancer to receive new therapies. However, even with access to protocol-directed care in clinical trials, high area-level socioeconomic deprivation is associated with worse survival (Unger et al, 2021). There is a critical need for research addressing tangible, impactful solutions for equitable access to high-quality cancer care and ways in which optimal outcomes can be achieved.
Due to the complexities associated with social determinants of health and cancer, multi-level and multi-sector research that addresses the interactions of factors responsible for cancer inequalities within communities is required. This RFA is a call for solution-based research addressing cancer health disparities that will contribute to achieving health equity. Thirty percent (30%) of the planned research participants must be racial and ethnic minorities or live in rural or medically underserved areas. Teams may propose collaborations with consortia of community hospitals and/or oncology practices, public hospitals, or other academic institutions or medical centers to accrue study participants. Collectively, the CHERC funds will support innovative research centered on a common goal of achieving sustainable health equity in your community.
Research topics could include:
All investigators must be at an accredited college, university, or medical school, within the United States (in accordance with ACS grant policies). Applicants from underrepresented groups and from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are encouraged to apply.
For more information see U.S.C. Title 20.
The Principal Investigator (PI):
A total budget of $4.07 M ($3.7 M direct cost plus 10% indirect cost) for a 4-year project period will support research, collaboration among researchers, and community engagement. Subawards include the following ACS research grant mechanisms: Clinician Scientist Development Grant (CSDG), Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF), and Research Scholar Grant (RSG). The PI may propose any combination of subawards that is within the specified budget limits. For example, a PI may propose 2 RSGs, 1 CSDG, and 1 PF or 3 RSGs only or any other combination of subawards that collectively does not exceed the maximum budget allowed.
See CHERC Policies PDF and CHERC Instructions PDF
A letter-of-intent (LOI) process will be used for selecting investigators to submit a full application. LOIs are only required for new submissions. See the LOI Instructions for the required information.
Required application components for the CHERC and the subawards can be found in the CHERC Instructions document. The following components are especially unique and integral to the application:
An independent and competitive peer review of grant applications will be conducted. See the CHERC Instructions document for more information on the review criteria. Reviewers will evaluate proposals based on:
Questions: Please contact joanne.elena@cancer.org
Alcaraz, KI, Wiedt T, Daniels ED, Yabroff KR, Guerra C, Wender RC. Understanding and Addressing Social Determinants to Advance Cancer Health Equity in the United States: A Blueprint for Practice, Research, and Policy. CA Cancer J Clin. 2020;70(1):31-46.
Alfano CM, Leach CR, Smith TG, Miller KD, Alcaraz KI; Cannady RS, Wender RC, Brawley OW. Equitably Improving Outcomes for Cancer Survivors and Supporting Caregivers: A Blueprint for Care Delivery, Research, Education, and Policy. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019;69:35–49.
Braveman P. A new definition of health equity to guide future efforts and measure progress. Health Affairs Blog Health Equity. 2017.
Edwards H, Monroe DY, Mullins CD. Six ways to foster community-engaged research during times of societal crises. J Comp Eff Res. 2020;9(16):1101-1104.
Elmore LW, Greer SF, Daniels ECD, Saxe CC, Melner MH, Krawiec GM, Phelps WC. Blueprint for Cancer Research: Critical Gaps and Opportunities. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021 Mar;71(2):107-139.
Siegel RL, Miller KD, Fuchs HE, Jemal A. Cancer Statistics, 2021. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021;71(1):7-33.
Unger J, Moseley AB, Cheung CK, Osarogiagbon RU, Symington B, Ramsey, SD, Hershman, DL. Persistent Disparity: Socioeconomic Deprivation and Cancer Outcomes in Patients Treated in Clinical Trials. J Clin Oncol. 2021
Yabroff KR, PhD, Gansler T, Wender RC, Cullen KJ, Brawley OW. Minimizing the Burden of Cancer in the United States: Goals for a High-Performing Health Care System. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019; 69(3):166-183.
Minority Serving Institutions Program
College Student Guide to Minority Serving Institutions
2020 NASA List of Minority Serving Institutions
Populations Underrepresented in the Extramural Scientific Workforce