American Cancer Society Institutional Grant Highlights from the Newly Announced Fall 2024 Grant Slate

Last week, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released the full list of 245 new and renewed grants that were awarded between August 1 and December 31, 2024. This significant grant slate included 14 new or renewed Institutional Research Grants (IRGs) and two new Cancer Health Equity Research Center (CHERC) awards. Both awards provide a block grant for funds for the institutions to use to support additional sub-awards.

“ACS is proud of the longstanding success of the Institutional Research Grant program that ensures early stage researchers have the support needed to launch their research careers,” said Dr. Joanne Elena, Scientific Director of the Clinical and Population Science Research program at ACS. “Our Cancer Health Equity Research Centers enable institutions to create a synergistic program to address a variety of structural and social drivers that impact cancer health disparities in their communities.”

Today, we are sharing highlights from our newest CHERCs and IRG awardees. 

CHERC Awardees

CHERC awards are intended to support the formation of Cancer Health Equity Research Centers that address cancer health disparities at the local or regional communities. CHERC awards are for $4.07 million over a 4-year project period and support a combination of subawards based on ACS's standard grant mechanisms, including Clinician Scientist Development Grant (CSDG), Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF), and Research Scholar Grant (RSG).

In the fall of 2024, ACS awarded the following two new CHERCs:

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University
Principal Investigator: Cardinale Smith, MD

The mission of the new CHERC at Mount Sinai is to reduce health inequities across the continuum of cancer care and alleviate the burden of cancer among racially and ethnically minoritized and historically marginalized communities across the five boroughs of New York City. The projects funded through this CHERC will focus on community-engaged care coordination and navigation that addresses the social determinants of health across the cancer continuum to achieve equitable health outcomes. This award will fund three sub-awards: two Research Scholar Grants and one Clinician Scientist Development Grant.

University of Oklahoma Health Science Center
Principal Investigator: Darla Kendzor, PhD

The aims of the new CHERC at the University of Oklahoma are to address the root causes of cancer disparities in Oklahoma through multilevel interventions designed to address disparities in cancer prevention behaviors and early detection by targeting key social determinants of health and provide health equity research training with the goal of increasing the quantity and quality of future health equity research. The four Research Scholar Grants embedded in this CHERC will impact the community and increase health equity in Oklahoma by addressing barriers to diagnostic colonoscopy among American Indians; improving smoking cessation outcomes among sexual/gender minoritized people; increasing prostate cancer screening rates among African American men; and collecting relevant information about racial/ethnic differences among young adults in flavored little cigar/cigarillo preferences to inform policies related to the sale of flavored tobacco.

Institutional Research Grants

Institutional Research Grants are awarded to institutions as block grants, providing seed money for newly independent investigators to initiate cancer research projects. In the fall of 2024, ACS awarded funding to 14 institutions to create or sustain IRG programs totaling $5.04 million in funding. 

One example of a noteworthy IRG is the renewed grant being awarded to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Through this mechanism, ACS has been funding early-career basic, population, and physician scientist faculty at MUSC and the Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) for over 20 years. From 2017-2023, ACS IRG sub-awardees received $1.2 million in ACS support that directly translated into $35 million in new external funding from various funding sources. With this newest grant, MUSC and HCC will prioritize funding research on cancer mechanisms impacting diverse populations and in those cancers with the highest morbidity and mortality in South Carolina. This IRG will support three pilot projects of $40,000 each for three years, which will be supplemented by additional funds from MUSC.

New or renewed IRGs were funded at the following institutions in 2024:

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Mack, MD

Dartmouth College
Principal Investigator: Steven Leach, MD

Medical University of South Carolina
Principal Investigator: Dennis Guttridge, PhD

University of California, San Diego
Principal Investigator: Michael Bouvet, MD

University of Chicago
Principal Investigator: Samuel Armato, PhD

University of Iowa
Principal Investigator: Jon Houtman, PhD

University of Maryland, Baltimore
Principal Investigator: Tonya Webb, PhD

University of New Mexico Health Science Center
Principal Investigator: Michelle Ozbun, PhD

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Principal Investigator: Robin J. Leach, PhD

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Principal Investigator: Melanie Cobb, PhD

University of Utah
Principal Investigator: Donald Ayer, PhD

Virginia Commonwealth University
Principal Investigator: David Gewirtz, PhD

Washington University in St. Louis
Principal Investigator: Jason Weber, PhD

Yale University
Principal Investigator: Daniel DiMaio, PhD

See Currently Funded Grants to learn more about the more than 700 research grants we're currently funding.

See ACS Grant Mechanisms for upcoming grant opportunities.

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