Federally-Funded Cancer Programs

National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
    NIH is responsible for allocating that funding for specific medical research through competitive grants. Congress does not designate funds within NIH for specific disease research, such as colorectal cancer.
  • National Cancer Institute (NCI) Appropriations
    NCI is an institute at the NIH. The NIH allocates funds to NCI which is then distributed to specific programs, such as colorectal cancer research.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The mission of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability.

A very small portion of the funds allocated to the CDC are used to increase colorectal cancer screening, education and outreach. Colorectal cancer currently does not have a nationwide federally funded screening program at the CDC. Legislation in Congress will hopefully change that by expanding the Colorectal Cancer Screening Demonstration Program, launched in 2005, to all 50 states.