The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research has announced 16 outstanding projects in its latest class of ASPIRE awards, granting more than $5 million for research that aims to answer key feasibility and proof-of-concept questions in an accelerated time frame, and scaling for impact based upon initial success.
Congress settled the FY26 question in February, with NCI receiving $7.352 billion, an increase of $128 million over the prior year. After a year in which cancer center directors spent an extraordinary share of their leadership attention defending the research enterprise, that outcome deserves to be called what it was: a win.
