Innovative Competition Aims to Catalyze New Direction in Breast Cancer Research

“Breast cancer prevention research has been significantly underfunded: of the $2 billion in annual funding for breast cancer research, less than 10 percent is dedicated to prevention,” says Olufunmilayo Olopade, MD, Professor and Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at the University of Chicago. ”The Global Challenge is an exciting initiative that we hope will lead to new scientific discovery and help prevent the more than 2 million cases of breast cancer that are diagnosed each year.”

By providing cash prizes, feedback from respected researchers, and the opportunity to present ideas to prominent leaders in the field, the challenge aims to surface transformative ideas that will help launch an entirely new direction for breast cancer research – focused on primary prevention, which means preventing breast cancer before it occurs by reducing risk factors, especially at a population-wide level. CBCRP is accepting applications in two categories: one for researchers and one for advocates (anyone who is not a scientist). Applicants can submit their ideas at ToPreventBreastCancer.org. The most promising ideas will frame CBCRP’s future funding strategy and will be further developed in California with $15 million in grant funding from the program.

CBCRP’s mission is to prevent and eliminate breast cancer by leading innovation in research, communication, and collaboration in the California scientific and lay communities. Administered within the University of California Office of the President, CBCRP is the country’s largest state-funded breast cancer research effort. Since 1994, CBCRP has awarded more than $280 million in research funds to California institutions.

Learn more about the challenge at ToPreventBreastCancer.org.

Learn more about CBCRP at CABreastCancer.org, on Facebook, or on Twitter @CABreastCancer.

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