The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) connects over 100 North American academic cancer centers through collaboration and communication.

Through the Defending Cancer Research Digest, AACI is keeping members informed and educating the public on the tangible benefits of research funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute.

Please read through these stories and share them widely on social media, through your institutions' communication channels, and in your communities. And continue to send us stories and videos from your cancer centers and local media, especially those featuring patients.



Follow AACI on social media and tag us in your posts. Please use our hashtags, #DefendingCancerResearch and #CancerResearchSavesLives to help amplify our messages.

United States

NIH Funding Cuts Have Affected Over 74,000 People Enrolled in Experiments, A New Report Says

The Associated Press

Between the end of February and mid-August, funding ceased for 383 studies that were testing treatments for conditions including cancer, heart disease and brain disease. The cuts disproportionately impacted efforts to tackle infectious diseases like the flu, pneumonia and COVID-19, researchers found.


The funding cuts likely disrupted patients’ lives in different ways.


Some may have signed up for trials that never began or got delayed as institutions scrambled for alternate funding. Others could have lost access to medication or been left with an unmonitored device implant.

More still could have participated in trials only for the results to never get published. Read More

Insiders Warn How Dismantling Federal Agencies Could Put Science at Risk

Nature

From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and training opportunities that the country is losing. Read More

Washington

Stop Holding Cancer Patients Hostage in Campus Controversies

The Seattle Times

Hundreds of millions of cancer research dollars have been canceled or delayed because our government has decided that associated universities’ cultures are not conservative enough, are antisemitic, or have diversity, equity and inclusion policies that the Trump administration finds objectionable.

The magnitude of such fiscal cuts inevitably results in terminated research programs, operational disruptions, faculty cutbacks, hiring freezes, suspension of new PhD student admissions and ultimately more cancer deaths and suffering. Hundreds of organizations and university research programs have lost or risk losing cancer research grants. Read More

Please save the date for the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual Hill Day, which will take place in Washington, DC, on Thursday, May 14.

Your participation in Hill Day is crucial to sharing our message with our legislators in Washington: that stable, predictable funds for the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute (NCI) are critical for advancing cancer research and care at our nation’s cancer centers.

We encourage each cancer center to send at least one representative to Washington to advocate on your center’s behalf. Cancer center leaders, scientists, administrators, public relations officers, government relations staffers, and patient advocates are all excellent representatives who provide unique perspectives on the value of cancer research funding. 

The Hill Day is conveniently scheduled to follow the NCI Cancer Center Directors Meeting on Wednesday, May 13, at the NCI's Shady Grove campus in Rockville, MD. (Please note: the May 13 meeting is for directors of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers only.)

Hill Day registration will open in early 2026. For more information, please email AACI Senior Government Relations Manager Jaren Love.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies, expanded under the American Rescue Plan and extended in the Inflation Reduction Act, have made health insurance more affordable for millions of people, including many patients with cancer.

These subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025. If Congress does not act, premiums for current enrollees are projected to increase by an average of 114 percent, placing coverage out of reach for many families. Such drastic increases would force Americans to forgo insurance entirely, leading to poorer outcomes, including cancer diagnoses at later stages, higher treatment costs, and widening health disparities, especially in rural and low-income communities.

Though eliminating these subsidies in the short term may save money, it is neither fiscally responsible nor sustainable in the long term. Allowing these enhanced subsidies to lapse without an extension or alternative protections would endanger the lives of millions of Americans and create avoidable, long-term costs for our health care system. 

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