Research Programs

Every major advance in the fight against breast cancer in the last three decades has been touched by Susan G. Komen for the Cure® funding. Komen for the Cure has provided more money for breast cancer research and community health programs than any entity besides the U.S. government.

A minimum of 25 percent of the net income from each domestic Affiliate, including Komen Puget Sound, supports the Komen for the Cure Research Grant Program, which funds groundbreaking breast cancer research, meritorious awards and educational and scientific conferences around the world.

Komen's Scientific Advisory Board guides our research focus, identifying the most promising areas of research and the critical questions that need to be answered. The Komen Scholars, along with members of Komen’s Advocates in Science, through a highly structured peer review process, help identify the most promising projects for funding. With the guidance of these experts, Komen invests every research dollar as carefully and conscientiously as possible.

Komen-Funded Research in the Puget Sound
Ground-breaking breast cancer research is happening in the Puget Sound community. The following research grants were made this year:

• A $250,000 scholar grant to Anne McTiernan, M.D, Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to investigate the incremental effect of vitamin D supplementation in overweight and obese postmenopausal women with low blood vitamin D levels on response to a weight loss (diet + exercise) intervention. The proposed research will provide important information about vitamin D insufficiency and weight, two potentially modifiable risk factors for breast cancer.
• A $180,000 grant to Jamie Guenthoer, Ph.D., at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to develop a blood test that, with mammography, could detect cancer and identify aggressive disease very early. 
• A $250,000 scholar grant to Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., at the University of Washington in Seattle, to identify new genes that will better identify women at risk for inherited breast cancer.

Learn More about Komen Research Grants.