Program-directed Initiatives

In 2004, CBCRP launched Special Research Initiatives (SRI), which devoted 30 percent of CBCRP research funds to support coordinated, directed and collaborative research on the identification and elimination of environmental causes of breast cancer and the identification and elimination of disparities and inequities in the burden of breast cancer in California. These resulted in many successful research projects (pdf).

In March 2010, the Council decided to build on SRI by devoting 50 percent of CBCRP research funds between 2011 and 2015. This effort was titled the California Breast Cancer Prevention Initiatives. The ultimate goal of this funding strategy was to support research that not only increases knowledge about these questions, but also points to solutions that will reduce the suffering from breast cancer and move science closer to eliminating the disease. 

In December 2014, the program launched the Policy Initiative, which is intended to close the gap between research and policy (both public and private) by funding research that contributes to creating an environment in California that leads to less breast cancer. 

In 2015, CBCRP’s Council decided to build on the existing Program Initiatives by devoting 50% of CBCRP research funds between 2017 and 2021 to a third round of Program Initiatives. This new effort is titled Preventing Breast Cancer (PBC): Community, Population, and Environmental Approaches. Approximately $20 million is being dedicated to directed, coordinated, and collaborative research to pursue the most compelling and promising approaches to:

• Identify and eliminate environmental contributors to breast cancer.
• Identify and eliminate fundamental causes of health disparities with a focus on breast cancer in California.
• Develop and test population-level prevention interventions that incorporate approaches to address the needs of the underserved and/or populations experiencing disparities in the burden of breast cancer.