Strategies to maximize the competitiveness of cancer survivorship grant applications: a report from the American Society of Preventive Oncology's Survivorship Interest Group.

In 2008, an estimated 1.4 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States (1). More than twothirds of these individuals will experience a ‘‘cure’’ due to improvements in early detection and treatment (2). Overall, the number of cancer survivors in the United States now exceeds 11.1 million (3) and increases f2% annually (4). The cancer survivorship experience also touches untold numbers of survivors’ families and friends. As the cancer survivorship population has grown, so has our awareness of the medical and psychosocial challenges faced by cancer survivors (4, 5). Yet, the evidence base to guide survivors seeking to enhance their well-being and clinicians providing follow-up care remains limited (6-8). This diminishes our society’s ability to reduce the $130 billion annual cost of lost productivity due to cancer and premature death (2), much of which is attributable to survivors and their families. Cancer survivorship research can make a substantial contribution to the health and well-being of survivors and their families, and could reduce our society’s cancerrelated economic losses. Although the National Cancer Institute funding for survivorship research increased from $2 million in 1998 to $22 million in 2004, this is a modest investment compared with the more than $1 billion spent annually on treatment-related research (5). The American Society of Preventive Oncology’s Survivorship Interest Group’s (9) 2008 Annual Meeting featured two brief presentations and extended discussion among the 30 attendees about strategies to maximize the competitiveness of cancer survivorship grant applications. An important concern regarding competitiveness relates to the fact that at the NIH and in many other funding agencies, grant applications for cancer survivorship research compete directly with applications addressing other cancer-related topics such as basic science, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The purpose of this report is to summarize the group’s discussion for dissemination to cancer prevention and control researchers, as well as to survivor advocates and overseers of grant review processes.