About the California Breast Cancer Research Program
To find a cure for breast cancer, or better yet, to find a way to prevent the disease, we need to approach research in new ways. That’s the job of the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP). We push breast cancer research in new directions.
In 1993, California breast cancer activists, most of them women who had survived or currently had breast cancer, sparked the creation of our program. The activists joined forces with scientists, health care professionals, state legislators, and University of California officials to win passage of statewide legislation establishing the CBCRP.
Californians fund our program through a portion of a state tax on tobacco, a voluntary contribution box on state income tax forms, and support from individuals, corporations, and other foundations.
In 2003, we awarded $11,571,451 for 50 single- and multiple-year grants and 3 supplement awards at 25 leading research institutions throughout California to investigate ideas that otherwise might not be explored. Since 1995, we have provided a total of $142,330,413 for more than 550 grants to over 60 California research institutions.
We’re honored to be the largest state-funded breast cancer research program in the country. We’re also the fourth largest breast cancer research program in the world. Every breast cancer patient around the world benefits from what we do.
We fund exploration and “outside the box” thinking. We’ve pioneered collaborations where research scientists work side by side with women affected by breast cancer. Above all, we provide resources for the people who sit alone in labs and focus on painstaking, demanding, trial-and-error science and for people who are working tirelessly in the community to lessen the impact of the disease. Their work and our support will continue, day after day, until we find a way to end the suffering caused by breast cancer.
