Cancer Disparities Research Faces Federal Funding Crisis
Cancer disparities researchers say federal funding – Cancer disparities researchers say federal policy changes are disrupting critical work on health inequities. Why do certain populations face higher risks of developing cancer and experiencing mortality from the disease? According to a comprehensive report released by the American Association for Cancer Research, rural residents demonstrate an 18 percent greater likelihood of succumbing to cancer compared to urban counterparts. Additionally, Black women confront a 35 percent elevated risk of breast cancer death relative to their white counterparts. These statistics illuminate persistent health inequities that researchers have dedicated their careers to understanding and addressing.
Scientists specializing in cancer disparities dedicate their efforts to examining these gaps and developing strategies to bridge them. Their contributions have yielded meaningful reductions across numerous health disparities over recent decades. However, the latest AACR assessment reveals that federal policy modifications have impacted approximately 93 percent of researchers surveyed within this specialized field.
Immediate Consequences for Clinical Trials
“Many medical trials were stopped in the middle — meaning those patients suddenly didn’t receive the treatments they were getting, because the funding stopped,” explains Mariana Stern, who serves as professor of preventive medicine and urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and chairs the report committee.
The comprehensive report synthesizes findings from a survey encompassing 122 researchers, including professors, scientists, and graduate students. An overwhelming 78 percent of respondents indicated they had been unable to submit applications for new funding opportunities. Furthermore, 59 percent reported that their ongoing research projects experienced significant disruptions. Notably, 59 percent of those surveyed identified the National Institutes of Health as the source of their lost funding.
Historic Grant Cancellations Under New Administration
The report references data published in JAMA Oncology during November, which documented that approximately during the first half of 2025, the Trump administration terminated 181 grants from the National Cancer Institute, a division within the NIH. These canceled grants collectively exceeded $317 million in value, with numerous projects specifically focused on health disparities research.
According to Grant Witness, a non-profit organization monitoring terminations and modifications to scientific agency funding, thousands of grants across the entire NIH were terminated throughout 2025. These substantial funding reductions followed an executive order issued in January 2025 that directed agencies to eliminate what it characterized as “radical” and “wasteful” diversity, equity, and inclusion research initiatives.
Heather Pierce, senior director for science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges, characterized the funding disruption as a mass termination “for simply not moving forward priorities of a new administration.” She emphasized that under previous administrations, “termination was reserved as a very extreme remedy,” noting that the current scale remains unprecedented in recent history.
Ongoing Challenges and Personal Impact
Although numerous cancelled NIH grants were eventually restored following court challenges against the policy changes, additional terminations have occurred since then, as reported by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH. Moreover, fewer new grants from both the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities have been awarded this year compared to equivalent periods in previous years.
Pierce noted that there has been a “continued slowdown this year” in both grant making and renewals. Several researchers in the field express alarm regarding this funding slowdown, fearing that as it impedes their research capabilities, it will ultimately result in worse patient outcomes.
“If we take our foot off the pedal of disparities research, there will be more Americans — in rural communities and others not near [centers of excellence] — who will not do well,” stated Dr. Robert Winn, the cancer center director at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Pennsylvania. Although not an author of the 2026 report, Winn’s work was featured within it.
In response to inquiries about cancer disparities funding reductions, the NIH issued a statement affirming that “NCI identifies cancer disparity research as a priority and recognizes that advancements in the field generate knowledge benefiting all patients across the cancer continuum, from prevention and early detection to treatment and survivorship.”
Scarlett Lin Gomez, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, emphasized that the disruptions threaten long-term progress in understanding and reducing cancer inequities across diverse populations.
