OVERVIEW: The Walther Cancer Foundation supports cancer research, institutional capacity, bioinformatics and supportive oncology at select universities in Indiana.
IP TAKE: The Walther Cancer Foundation typically does not veer from its three core grantees: Purdue, Notre Dame and the University of Indiana, where it supports collaborative programs for research and advancement in cancer care. Additionally, it maintains a strong relationship with ASCO/Conquer Cancer, which has funded multiple relevant endowments.
For most grant seekers, look downstream: Walther funding supports internal research competitions at Purdue and Notre Dame, while its ASCO partnership backs career-development and recognition programs in supportive oncology.
Walther is a driving force behind the state of Indiana’s main cancer research and care facilities, and it seems unlikely that the foundation will expand its purview in the near future. Walther does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding. For researchers, the best strategy is to map Walther’s institutional network. Cold proposals won’t get you far. If your work sits inside one of its partner cancer centers—or fits a Walther-backed ASCO opportunity—there may be a clear path in. Network with the faculty and staff of one of its core grantees to get a sense of how to get involved.
PROFILE: The Walther Cancer Foundation was founded in 1985 by Dr. Joseph Walther, who lost his wife to colon cancer. Walther, born and raised in Indiana, earned his M.D. from Indiana University. He served as a physician and a member of the medical staffs for various hospitals in the Indianapolis area, as well as in Hawaii. Over the course of his long career, he “realized that insights into this family of diseases go beyond initiatives that seek to unlock fundamental secrets of the transfigured cells that give rise to cancer.”
The foundation’s mission is “to help build cancer programs that provide tangible benefits by expanding the world’s scientific knowledge, by saving lives and by offering hope to patients and their families.” Grants mainly go to its partner universities in Indiana: Notre Dame, Purdue and Indiana University.
Grants for Public Health and Disease Research
This foundation mainly provides ongoing support to three major cancer research programs in Indiana.
- Beginning in 2018, the foundation helped to establish the Walther Supportive Oncology Program at Indiana University School of Medicine. The program aims to provide the “spectrum of care that a patient with cancer and their loved ones may need over and above their oncological care.” Grants have included funding for five endowed chairs “who will grow a robust supportive oncology program in Indiana.”
- Walther-backed global work also can be gleaned from tax records and public literature.
- The Walther Global Palliative Care & Supportive Oncology initiative at IU has supported policy, education and international work around access to palliative care and essential pain medicines.
- Its International Pain Policy Fellowship targets health professionals, administrators, policy experts, social workers and lawyers from low- and middle-income countries.
- Walther began its relationship with ASCO in 2016 and established an endowed supportive-oncology award and lecture in 2017.
- The Walther Cancer Foundation Supportive Oncology Award remains active, with awards given as recently as 2025.
- Walther also funds Career Development Awards in Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology through Conquer Cancer.
- The foundation also supports collaborative programs in bioinformatics at Indiana University and Purdue University medical schools. The goal of these programs is to advance research and diagnostics “to provide cutting edge care to patients and be able to define the care of the future.”
- The foundation also provides vital support to the University of Notre Dame’s Harper Cancer Institute, which brings researchers from Notre Dame and the University of Indiana together to study “the biology of cancer with the ultimate aim of more effective treatments and outright cures.”
- Grants have also gone to the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
- Tax records identify a $10 million 2023 matching commitment to establish the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, supporting collaboration involving Riley Children’s Health, the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and IU School of Medicine.
Other Opportunities
Walther’s current website gives Endowments its own program section.
- The foundation says it uses endowments to provide partners with long-term stability, recruit and retain scientists and clinicians, support state-of-the-art programs, and foster collaboration among institutions.
- Major examples include $15 million to support recruitment of the IU cancer-center director; $10 million to Purdue for faculty recruitment, equipment and research; and $5 million to support the Purdue cancer-center director.
Important Grant Details:
The Walther Foundation’s grants range from $1,000 to $1.7 million. Certain endowments can reach $10+ million. In a recent year, this funder gave about $7.5 million in total grants.
- With only a few occasional exceptions, grants support cancer research and treatment programs at Indiana University, Notre Dame and Purdue.
- The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding.
- See the foundation’s programs page to learn more about its giving.
Submit questions to the Walther Cancer Foundation via its contact page. The foundation’s phone number is (317) 708-6101.
PEOPLE:
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