The American Cancer Society is the largest source of private, nonprofit cancer research funds in the United States. The ACS awards approximately $150 million in new research grants annually through its disciplined peer review process – a process so successful that 44 ACS grantees have gone on to achieve science's highest honor, the Nobel Prize. In total, more than $3.5 billion has been invested in research since 1946. In Indiana, the American Cancer Society funds more than $4 million in cancer research happening at four institutions around the state: University of Notre Dame, Indiana University – Indianapolis, Purdue University, and Indiana University – Bloomington.
The community's support has allowed the American Cancer Society to be involved in many major cancer research breakthroughs of the last century, including:
- Establishing mammography as the gold standard to find breast cancer early
- Discovering lifesaving treatments such as Herceptin, Tamoxifen, and Gleevac, commonly used to treat cancer patients in Michiana and across the country
- Discovering genes for inherited breast and colon cancer
- Confirming the knowledge that genetics, diet, lack of exercise, and alcohol abuse can increase a person's cancer risk
