Trends in Survivorship Grant Funding

  1. Office of Cancer Survivorship
  2. Funding and Grants
  3. Trends in Survivorship Grant Funding

Survivorship research includes efforts to understand, prevent, and mitigate acute, long-term, and late-occurring physical, psychological, social, and economic effects of cancer and its treatment, improve care delivery, promote healthy behaviors, develop and sustain research infrastructure, and improve research methodologies for those impacted by cancer. This section provides information and characteristics of NIH survivorship grants funded over the past several years.

Number of Cancer Survivorship Grants

The graph below shows the number of interventional and observational grants, as well as total grants newly funded by NIH from FY 2017 through FY 2024. 

From fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2024, the total number of grants increased from 68 to 150. The number of interventional grants increased from 37 to 66, and the number of observational grants increased from 31 to 65. In 2024, 19 grants were coded as “Other” because they did not fit into interventional or observational categories.

Starting in 2021, the survivorship research definition was expanded from post-treatment research only to include survivors from diagnosis forward, including people living with advanced and metastatic cancers.

Percentage of Cancer Survivorship Grants by Primary Focus Area

This graph shows the percentage of grants awarded by NIH from FY 2017 to FY 2024 within each primary focus area. 

From fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2024, the largest percentage of grants was awarded to research focusing on late-term and long-term effects, although the overall percentage declined from approximately 51% to approximately 42%. All other primary focus areas accounted for less than approximately 24% of grants. The primary focuses that accounted for the 2nd most % of grants were acute toxicities & care delivery. Methods & Measurement, health promotion, infrastructure, & financial impact followed.

Starting in 2021, the survivorship research definition was expanded from post-treatment research only to include survivors from diagnosis forward, including people living with advanced and metastatic cancers.

Doose M, Mollica MA, Acevedo AM, Tesauro G, Gallicchio L, Reed C, Guida J, Maher ME, Srinivasan S, Tonorezos E. Advancing health equity in cancer survivorship research: National Institutes of Health 2017-2022 portfolio review. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2024 Aug 1;116(8):1238-1245.

Mollica MA, Tesauro G, Gallicchio L, Guida J, Maher ME, Tonorezos E. Survivorship science at the National Institutes of Health 2017-2021. J Cancer Surviv. 2024 Oct;18(5):1443-1452.

Mollica MA, Tesauro G, Tonorezos ES, Jacobsen PB, Smith AW, Gallicchio L. Current state of funded National Institutes of Health grants focused on individuals living with advanced and metastatic cancers: a portfolio analysis. J Cancer Surviv. 2021 Jun;15(3):370-374.

Tonorezos E, Mollica M, Tesauro G, Gallicchio L, Guida J, Maher ME, Hudson SV. Primary care for cancer survivors: a review of national institutes of health-funded grants 2017-2022. J Cancer Surviv. 2024 May 31.