Grants Program Evaluation Results

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We regularly evaluate our Research Grants Program in order to ensure that we are fulfilling our aim to expand knowledge about pancreatic cancer, bring more researchers into the field and benefit current and future patients fighting the disease. Our latest evaluation showed that our research grant recipients continue to thrive in the field of pancreatic cancer research, bringing us closer to our goal of improving patient outcomes.

Our evaluation entails systematically examining our grantees’ success in generating additional funding for pancreatic cancer research, publishing their findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals and having their research cited in other publications. All of these achievements help further scientific knowledge on pancreatic cancer.

In 2021, we evaluated grants awarded from 2003 to 2019 and found that for every dollar our donors invest in our Research Grants Program, grantees go on to receive $11.50 in subsequent pancreatic cancer research funding. This means even more research is being funded aimed at improving our ability to understand, diagnose and treat pancreatic cancer.

The 174 grantees we evaluated have authored 2,768 scientific publications thus far. Those publications were cited 260,000 times in other papers published in biomedical journals, which means other researchers are reading, learning from and building upon our grantees’ work.

In addition to receiving financial support for their research projects, grantees participate in the organization’s Community for Progress, which provides connections and mentorships with leading scientists in the field. Ongoing career support activities offer opportunities for training, information exchange, collaborations and other professional development activities to help keep the pancreatic cancer community of researchers committed and involved. Our grantees have routinely expressed that inclusion in our Community for Progress is highly beneficial to their careers and research programs.

To date, PanCAN has awarded 218 research grants to 203 scientists at 75 institutions. Our overall research investment, including our Research Grants Program, is now more than $149 million, making a significant impact on the diagnosis, treatment and care of today’s patients and those who will be diagnosed in the future.

It is important to us to ensure sound stewardship of our research grant investment and provide a measure of accountability to our constituents. The results of this most recent evaluation show that our grant recipients are growing the field of pancreatic cancer research exponentially and moving us ever closer to meeting our goal of improving patient outcomes.