CARE Fund Expands Investments with Over $30M in Grant Awards

Jun 8, 2023

CARE Fund announced the award of 32 grants totaling $30,683,000 million, to advance cancer research in Washington. Funding areas range from cancer research projects aiming to address cancer disparities, to strengthening the state’s cancer research infrastructure, and making early investments in life science start-up companies.

In 2022 the Washington State legislature made a commitment to improving the lives of Washingtonians through an historic investment in cancer research through the CARE Fund. The CARE Board solicited community feedback through a Request For Information. Four Requests for Proposals (RFPs) were opened this cycle ranging from cancer research projects aiming to address cancer disparities, to strengthening the state’s cancer research infrastructure, and making early investments in life science start-up companies.

The four RFPs generated greater response than any in the CARE Fund’s history, totaling 43 proposals with over $42 million in requests. The state’s appropriation to the CARE Fund resulted in grants for cancer research across the state, east and west of the Cascades.

Today the CARE Board is proud to announce 32 grants totaling $30,683,000 million, to advance cancer research in Washington. Awardees are listed in the links below:

To support cancer research projects that aim to address cancer disparities for population groups, two awards in Population Health.
To support projects that enhance clinical trial site capacity or infrastructure to conduct cancer clinical trials or address patients’ barriers to participation, six awards in Inclusion and Diversity in Clinical Trials.
To bolster Washington State’s cancer research ecosystem by supporting efforts to plan, develop, or support shared resources that will advance cancer research in Washington State, eight awards in Shared Resources and Infrastructure.
To support early-stage companies and innovative researchers to translate promising research into the development of tools, devices, or therapeutics related to cancer, 16 awards in Life Science Start-up and Development.

The CARE Fund Board of Directors is grateful to the legislature and the Governor for making these funds available, to the community for your input and direction, and the CARE Fund staff for their work in implementing the opportunities.

In the coming weeks, we will also announce awards in our first cycle of Breakthrough Seed Funding, to support early-stage research projects that are pursuing promising areas of cancer research.

We look forward to the results of this investment in cancer research to improve the quality of life for the people of Washington.

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