Member News

Rochester, NY – The Breast Cancer Coalition is pleased to announce that the 2025-2026 grant season of its yearly Breast Cancer Research Initiative is currently seeking Requests for Proposals. The Coalition is soliciting breast cancer research proposals for two grants:

• The Sylvia Cappellino Breast Cancer Research Faculty Grant - $50,000 awarded annually.
• The Pamela Delp Polashenski M.D. Breast Cancer Research Trainee Grant - $25,000 awarded annually.

Researchers affiliated with for-profit and non-profit institutions in New York State are welcome to apply.

Since 2003, the Coalition has annually awarded grants to fund innovative projects with the potential to yield significant medical breakthroughs in the cause and prevention of breast cancer, prevention of metastasis, and cure. To date, the Coalition has awarded $1,126,125 in funds for breast cancer research.

The Coalition’s Research Initiative is the only one of its kind in New York State, with a diverse Research Advisory Board comprised of researchers, scientists, clinicians, and importantly, survivor advocates. As Christina Thompson, Executive Director of the Breast Cancer Coalition, explains, “This initiative is a groundbreaking effort fueled by locally raised funds to support regional research, amplifying the patient’s voice through trained survivor advocates who actively participate in the decision-making process.”

Survivor advocates offer firsthand lived experience that is invaluable in the research review process. They go through a comprehensive training process and hold an equal place at the table with scientific reviewers. Each proposal is assigned two scientific experts and two survivor advocates, who review and score each project based on a specific set of criteria established by the Coalition.

“Being a part of the Research Committee Review Day was an honor,” shares Michele C., survivor advocate. “As a survivor, it is empowering to be part of this process and contribute to the developing science that can help lead to a cure or better treatments. The best part is that it’s happening right here in our own community.”

Past award recipients have gone on to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health, among other major funding institutions – a meaningful representation of the Coalition’s goal to eradicate breast cancer.

Sangwoo (Steven) Park, PhD, received the Pamela Delp Polashenski M.D. Breast Cancer Research Grant in 2022 for his research proposal entitled “Overcoming the glycocalyx barrier to engineered cellular therapeutics.” Since receiving the grant, Park’s research has been featured in several publications, along with earning a prestigious fellowship through Harvard Medical School.

As Park has expressed, “The Breast Cancer Coalition’s support will get us a step closer to developing new immunotherapies that are highly specific and potentially able to cure breast cancer … I’m very grateful for the Coalition’s support of my proposed work.”

Proposals must be submitted electronically in PDF form by 5 pm on Monday, March 3, 2025. In addition, 6 hard copies of the proposal must be received by the Coalition by 5 pm on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Applicants will be notified by May 30, 2025. The Grant Award Ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 17, 2025.

For more information about the Breast Cancer Coalition’s Research Initiative, visit bccr.org/research or email Silvia Gambacorta-Hoffman, Research Administrator, at silvia@bccr.org.