The Impact of Funding Cuts: AACR Annual Meeting 2025 Shows Why Cancer Research Matters 

One of the resounding messages to emerge from the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, held April 25-30, was how cancer research is at a crossroads unlike anything researchers have seen before amid funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI). 

“This moment, when the future of cancer research and the integrity of science itself feels more uncertain than in any other point in my career, we stand at the edge of discovery and the brink of losing it,” said AACR Immediate Past President Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), FAACR, at a session detailing the consequences of cutting funding for research.  

LoRusso said that the recent disruptions at the NIH have led to canceled research projects, halted clinical trials, hiring freezes, funding disruptions, and even growing pressure on scientists to adjust how they frame their work.  

It could also threaten to impede the progress that has been made against cancer thanks to advances discovered through research, Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), the chief executive officer of the AACR, explained during the meeting’s Opening Ceremony. As she noted, cancer mortality has declined 34% over the past three decades and there are currently more than 18 million cancer survivors in the United States.  

“At a time when the scientific community is making enormous strides in these and many, many other areas of cancer research, continued investments in biomedical discovery research are critically important,” Foti said. 

That is why in addition to the grant programs the AACR already offers, Foti announced the new AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grants to further support researchers during these challenging times. Nine grants of $1 million will be awarded to early-stage investigators and six grants of $1 million will be given to mid-career investigators, a $15 million total investment that represents the largest single grant program the AACR has ever offered.  

“By funding innovative and paradigm-shifting research, these AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grants will advance our understanding of cancer biology, drive groundbreaking translational discoveries, and improve patient outcomes,” Foti said.  

But that alone is not enough. During the Opening Ceremony, both Foti and LoRusso also stressed the need for robust and sustained federal funding to support NIH and its lifesaving mission.  

Throughout May, the AACR has been working to amplify messaging around this crucial need for National Cancer Research Month. The AACR has been joining with cancer centers, institutions, researchers, physician-scientists, patients, survivors, advocates, and others to spread awareness of the impact of cancer research and to call on Congress to make cancer research a national priority. The AACR also encourages anyone who has participated in and/or benefited from cancer research to share their story on social media along with the hashtags #NCRM25 and #UnitedByCancerResearch. 

Below are just some of the messages that were shared during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025 about the impact of cancer research and the importance of medical research funding. 

“Fight for Your Science” 

“I stand here as a healthy, grateful, thriving cancer survivor because every bit of the wonderful treatment I received came from NCI and NIH research—every bit,” shared Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, former director of the NIH. “And there are many millions of people like me.” 

Bertagnolli explained that the NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, which provided approximately $38 billion through 60,000 grants awarded to more than 300,000 investigators in her final year. As the current administration is cutting into that funding for research, Bertagnolli had one message for those who may be or have been impacted. 

“Fight for your science. Fight for what you do that benefits the American people,” she exclaimed. “We have seen some programs that are very important that were originally canceled that have come back because people have stood up and advocated for … how they were really essential for meeting important goals that our society has.” 

“Everybody Cares About Cancer” 

W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, the former NCI director and the new CEO of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, emphasized the need for researchers to learn how to communicate the benefits of their science.  

“[Not] everyone knows about what it’s like to die from pediatric leukemia and how different that is than 10 or 20 years ago … because of what’s come from cancer research,” Rathmell explained. “We have to tell our stories about individual patients, about the beauty of research, and about what it is that [the NCI] can do for America.” 

Rathmell herself has taken the time to speak with people at community centers, nursing homes, airports, even during trips to Staples. She encouraged other researchers to do the same.  

“Everybody cares about cancer,” she said. “And when they find out that you live in this interesting space where you get to see the emerging new data of cancer … they really want to know more.” 

“Use Examples That People Can Connect To”  

E. John Wherry, PhD, FAACR, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said it is also important to make clear how federal research funding impacts the larger economy. He explained how every $100 million of federal research funding results in about 76 patents, which generates about $600 million of economic activity.  

“We have to be able to explain that economic impact and what we will lose if we don’t have that,” Wherry said. 

Additionally, 99.4% of new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2010 and 2019 were a result of discoveries made by NIH research.  

“We have to explain why understanding fundamental mechanisms of lizard venom results in Ozempic, and how the chance discoveries of mold on a piece of bread generates penicillin,” Wherry said. “We have to use examples that people can connect to.” 

“I’m Living Proof of What NIH Research Can Do” 

Larry Saltzman, MD, a retired family physician and former executive research director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, echoed what Wherry said about how basic research can have unintended, but beneficial consequences. 

Saltzman, a 15-year survivor of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small cell lymphocytic lymphoma, has participated in six clinical trials and been on more than a dozen different treatments, including two CAR T-cell therapies. He told the story of Emily Whitehead who, at the age of 6, became the first pediatric patient to be treated with CAR T-cell therapy. She had a severe reaction that caused her cytokines levels to elevate—particularly interleukin-6—and her outlook was bleak. Her doctors gave her the arthritis treatment tocilizumab as a last-ditch effort, and not only is she alive today, but tocilizumab has become a standard of care to treat what is now known as cytokine release syndrome. Saltzman would go on to receive this same treatment, thanks to the research Whitehead was a part of.    

“One never knows when a basic research project is started to what degree it will not only help the initial target, in this case rheumatoid arthritis, but other illnesses as well,” Saltzman said. “I’m living proof of what NIH research can do, and I don’t think I would be here today without the commitment of Congress.” 

“Cancer Is the Enemy” 

Prior to 2016, Kristen Dahlgren, who was an NBC correspondent at the time, said she never gave cancer much thought. Then her 13-year-old stepson was diagnosed with leukemia, and three years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Thanks to research, they are both in remission, and Dahlgren has since launched a nonprofit called the Cancer Vaccine Coalition to help fund the next generation of treatments. But she is also using her background as a journalist to film a documentary on what is happening with these cuts to research funding. 

“If there’s one thing … that can unite us in this moment, it is that cancer is the enemy,” she explained. “Every family is impacted—no matter which way they vote. We have to tell people about what [researchers are] doing and about the urgency that patients feel. We have to tell those stories like their lives and the lives of their loved ones depend on it, because they do.” 

“There’s Still So Much Hope” 

With cuts to medical research funding, LoRusso expressed that we risk forcing promising young researchers out of science and “losing not only a generation of scientists, but the discoveries that they will never have a chance to make.” 

While that is a very real concern, one early-career researcher, Cody Wolf, PhD, of the University of Virginia, said many of his fellow young investigators—even those who have had their grants rescinded—are not ready to give up. 

“They say, ‘I’m still here at this conference to make my career happen. I’m here to make connections. I’m here to do good science. I’m here to do what I love to do,’” Wolf explained. “That really enlightens me that even in such a tumultuous time for us, there’s still so much hope.” 

That level of hope was also on display at the conclusion of the Opening Ceremony when thousands of people rose to their feet and waved signs that read: “Cancer Research Saves Lives.” Attendees united in their hope for more sustainable funding for medical research, their hope for continued accelerated progress against this complex set of diseases known as cancer, and their hope that others not in attendance will also unite around the crucial message LoRusso used to conclude the ceremony:  

“Cancer is still a formidable threat, and cancer research is the answer!”