The Domino Effect of Endowed Giving on Cancer Research | Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation

Even for the most seasoned physician-scientists, presenting at the Plenary Session at the ASCO Annual Meeting is a career highlight. Standing on that stage, with thousands of people watching and listening, means you’ve achieved something remarkable. It means that out of 5,000-plus submissions, your project was deemed among the year’s most groundbreaking—and possibly the most likely to make a real impact for people with cancer around the world.

In 2023, all four presenters shared groundbreaking results from phase III clinical trials. For each, it was the outcome of countless long hours, hard work, and personal sacrifice. But they also shared something else in common: All four were past recipients of a Young Investigator Award (YIA) from Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation.

Designed to support early-career scientists, the YIA is often a recipient’s first grant. As such, it’s also often their first step into the complex world of research funding.

“These grants have launched some incredible research careers,” said Nancy Daly, MS, MPH, Chief Executive Officer of Conquer Cancer. “They’ve gone on to prove this not only as cancer researchers but also as leaders in oncology.”

It’s no wonder, then, that Conquer Cancer is more committed than ever to growing its YIA program. After all, these grant recipients might one day step up to the Plenary podium to present their own lifesaving discoveries.

And one of the best means of achieving that is through endowed giving.

Conquering Cancer and Funding Oncology Breakthroughs with Endowed Giving

Behind every Plenary presenter—and most scientific breakthroughs—is a network of mentors, funders, and collaborators. Their contributions help bring new ideas out of the lab and into patients’ lives.

And behind each member of that network stand even more mentors, funders, and collaborators. On and on it goes, with each person propelled forward by the support of their predecessors.

“There’s a domino effect when it comes to the researchers themselves. They apply for a YIA, and then they conduct that initial work that enables them to apply for other grants,” Ms. Daly said. “Recurring donors and those who’ve endowed an award also have a domino effect. They’re building that family of researchers along with us.”

With the need for funds outpacing availability, early-career researchers feel the sting. It’s exactly the kind of problem Conquer Cancer hopes to solve through its YIA program.

“Conquer Cancer differentiates itself by funding these investigators at a critical point in their careers,” said Howard “Skip” Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, chair of Conquer Cancer’s Board of Directors. “We’re facilitating their mentorship and building a family of researchers to pursue the next great advancements.”

An Endowed Gift Can Set Careers—and Cancer Breakthroughs—in Motion

The first YIA was awarded in 1984 to Judith Salmon Kaur, MD, then a student at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Fifteen years later, ASCO formally established the foundation. Since then, ASCO and Conquer Cancer have provided thousands of grants and awards.

William C. Chen, MD, is a radiation oncologist and translational researcher at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Chen is also a four-time recipient who received his YIA during his residency in 2022.

“My journey is a pretty good example of the impact of these grants on careers,” Dr. Chen said. “That funding made it possible for me to make the most of my research time. It also directly funded some of my experiments.”

While Conquer Cancer offers several types of funding, the most frequent is the YIA. This one-year, $50,000 grant is for physician-scientists transitioning to their first faculty role. By the end of 2024, Conquer Cancer had established 39 endowed YIAs. Of those, nearly a third were secured over the past two years.

Dr. Chen’s YIA also led to research that he presented at the 2022 and 2023 ASCO Annual Meetings. Both years, his abstracts earned an Endowed Merit Award. The award comes with an invitation to present their research during the meeting, financial support, and free meeting attendance. “It was a very pleasant surprise and amazing to get those awards,” Dr. Chen said. “They validated the work that I was doing.”

In 2023, Dr. Chen published the findings from his YIA research in Nature Medicine.1 Those findings also formed the basis of his successful application for Conquer Cancer’s 2024 Career Development Award (CDA). This three-year, $200,000 grant supports clinical scientists in their first faculty appointment.

In some cases, Conquer Cancer support extends even earlier into research careers. Take, for example, Jesus Juarez Casillas, MD. In 2020, he received an award to support his prostate cancer research. “The award allowed me to work closely with a prostate radiation oncologist,” said Dr. Juarez, now a resident at UCLA Health. “I was able to shadow my mentor in clinic. This let me gain valuable insight into cancer treatments and the roles radiation oncologists play on a multidisciplinary team.”

Generosity That Conquers Cancer in Perpetuity

With their guaranteed long-term revenue, endowed gifts are critical to sustaining the future of cancer research. This can be particularly true during in uncertain financial times.

“We fund upwards of 100 YIAs per year,” said Clifford Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Executive Officer of ASCO and Executive Vice Chair of Conquer Cancer. “These grants have all the components for a high success rate for the grantees. The endowment program gives us confidence that they’ll be here for tomorrow’s early-career investigators and all those who follow.”

YIAs are awarded to recipients with a proven commitment to making meaningful breakthroughs. But doing so requires resources that are often in short supply.

“From the fundraising side, the ability to guarantee 50 to 100 YIA grants every year allows us to expand our focus on other areas,” said Eileen Melnick, Conquer Cancer’s Division Director of Grants and Awards. “Our researchers know these funds will be available every year.”

Endowments also enable progress for rare, underfunded, and under-studied cancers. For example, newer therapies have proven better for treating triple-negative breast cancer, but outcomes were much poorer just a few years ago. This caught the attention of Corey Speers, MD, PhD, then a resident at the University of Michigan’s Rogel Cancer Center.

“It was clear that we were doing a really good job, by and large, of helping cure estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer,” Dr. Speers said. “Implementing widespread screening had helped to detect these tumors earlier. But every time I had to give bad news to a patient about a recurrence, it seemed like they had triple-negative disease.”

Fortunately, Conquer Cancer provided Dr. Speers with an endowed YIA, created in memory of Evelyn H. Lauder and funded through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). As the 2014 recipient, Dr. Speers used his funding to better understand how to manage triple-negative breast cancer. Since then, he’s made significant progress towards personalizing radiation treatment for patients.

“This helped establish me as someone who’s serious about doing this as a career,” Dr. Speers said. “When I went to secure my first faculty role, they saw that I had some research funding, including that Conquer Cancer grant. It showed that I could put concepts and ideas together and deliver.”

An Investment That Pays Dividends for People Everywhere, Always

Organizations like BCRF frequently support Conquer Cancer grants because of the foundation’s proven success in identifying the most promising researchers. Another such organization is the Walther Cancer Foundation (WCF). Through Conquer Cancer, WCF has funded a series of CDAs. That includes the Endowed Supportive Oncology Award. This award recognizes distinguished leaders for their contributions to palliative and supportive oncology care.

“Conquer Cancer has the skillset and network to manage this award,” said WCF President Thomas Grein. “They also have the network and talent to identify the most deserving candidates.”

Sometimes, supporting researchers also leads to even more endowed research. In 2023 — 39 years after receiving her own YIA — Dr. Kaur and her husband, Alan, supported Conquer Cancer’s 25th endowed YIA.

“When you think about the first YIA granted to Dr. Kaur, there was the direct impact of our support for her research,” Dr. Hudis said. “But then there was the impact of her training and mentoring of others. Many of these individuals went on to make important contributions and receive Conquer Cancer grants. It all started with one. Each of our YIAs has the same potential to make an impact.”

Endowing More Grants to Research Every Cancer, for Every Patient, Everywhere

Dr. Hudis, Dr. Burris, and Ms. Daly hope that one day, all YIAs will be endowed—and perhaps all other Conquer Cancer awards. “If we can endow all YIAs and CDAs,” Ms. Daly said, “we can put more resources into growing other programs to develop more researchers.”