Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
/OVERVIEW: The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network aims “to create a world in which all patients with pancreatic cancer will thrive.”
IP TAKE: The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, or PanCan, has become a major player in the pancreatic research space. In less than 20 years, the organizations has successfully helped to “increase National Cancer Institute (NCI) pancreatic cancer research funding from $17 million in 1999, the year of our founding, to over $182 million in 2018.”
This funder invites grantseekers to sign up for email alerts about new and upcoming funding opportunities. Grants range from offers an open application platform, making it one of the more approachable cancer research funders out there. As the amount of research dollars available for pancreatic cancer research is comparatively sparse, applicants should expect a good deal of competition when applying for a grant here. This is an accessible funder that accepts both unsolicited applications and contact.
PROFILE: When Pamela Acosta Marquardt’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1996, she only found one helpful resource, an online discussion board hosted by a pathologist at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. This lack of available information and support led Marquardt and cofounders Paula Kim and Terry Lierman to establish the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCan) in 1999. The overall mission of PanCan is to “create a world in which all patients with pancreatic cancer will thrive.” PanCan makes “grants for basic, translational and clinical research in pancreatic cancer that go to scientists and clinicians at various career levels.” It is worth noting that this organization also operates its own outreach and advocacy programs.
Grants for Disease and Cancer Research
PanCan primarily makes grants for diseases through research grants that has awarded 236 grants to 217 scientists at 78 institutions, and counting, since 2003. PanCan notes that for “every $1 (it) invested in (their) grant recipients from 2003 to 2019, they were able to go on to receive an average of $11.50 in subsequent funding to support their research.” Within this area, PanCan has about 10 different research grants that it offers:
Catalyst Grants provide $500,000 over 3 years.
Career development offer 2-year grants of $200,000 designed to “attract and support junior faculty at academic and medical institutions, and foster their research in pancreatic cancer.”
Early Detection Targeted Grant focus on “identifying novel biomarkers or improving imaging strategies to diagnose the disease in its earlier, more treatable stages.”
Fellowships/Young Investor Awards offer are 1- or 2-year grants “totaling up to $45,000 or $150,000 each to attract postdoctoral and clinical research fellows and jumpstart their careers in pancreatic cancer research.”
Innovative Grants (formerly known as Pilot Grant) award $200,000 over 2 years and are “seed money for the development of new ideas and innovative models. Emphasis is given to projects that are non-duplicative.”
Pathway to Leadership Grants total $600,000 over a 5-year period and are awarded to “highly promising postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to support the mentored research phase, career enrichment activities, and the successful transition to research independence and leadership.”
Precision Medicine Targeted Grants are intended to fund “high-priority projects that utilize patients’ tumors’ molecular characteristics to help determine the best treatment options.”
Research Acceleration Network (RAN) Grants provides (RAN 1) $1,000,000 and (Ran-2) $2,000,000 over 1 to 3 years to “support a phase 2 treatment clinical trial or robust nontherapeutic trial.” These opportunities support multi-institutional team projects.
The Research Project Grant funds “special projects outside of its standard Research Grants Program mechanism in order to advance research and enhance learnings around key topics in the field.”
The Translational Research Grant support “independent investigators conducting translational research that has as its endpoint the development of a pancreatic cancer assessment, prevention or treatment modality.”
Its current research priorities are the biology and etiology of pancreatic cancer, prevention, early detection, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. To learn more about the impact of PanCan’s research, read here.
Important Grant Details:
PanCan’s awards range from $45,000 to $2,000,000 for periods of two to five years.
Grantseekers can learn more about past grantees here.
PanCan accepts unsolicited applications for awards with open Requests for Proposals.
Visit the foundation’s Funding Opportunities page to see which programs are currently open.
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