The Future Of Cancer Research In The US

1A

NPR

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4.4 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

More than 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer when he signed the National Cancer Act in 1971.

Since then, the United States has emerged as a juggernaut in cancer research, funded largely by the government.

But since President Donald Trump took office in January, the administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and government funding are upending the country’s research system.

So, how are these funding and staffing cuts affecting cancer research and treatment? And how could they impact our progress towards scientific breakthroughs?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Rachel Martin. I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR. For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous. That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic. But these days, I love it.
0:16.2	Oh, gosh. Give me a minute. Yeah, yeah. Think. Listen to the Wildcard podcast only from NPR.
0:27.5	It was more than 50 years ago that President Nixon declared war on cancer when he signed the National Cancer Act in 1971.
0:39.6	And I hope that in the years ahead, that we may look back on this day and this action as being the most significant action taking during this administration.
0:50.6	It could be. Because when we consider what cancer does each year in the United States,
0:56.8	we find that more people each year die of cancer in the United States
1:01.8	than all the Americans who lost their lives in World War II.
1:06.7	After that, the United States emerged as a juggernaut in cancer research
1:10.5	funded largely by the federal government.
1:13.0	But since President Trump took office in January, the administration's sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and government funding are upending the country's cancer research system.
1:22.3	Trump officials have directed the National Cancer Institute to slash its contract spending by a third.
1:27.7	That means terminating grants for life-saving cancer research.
1:31.0	So what do these cuts mean for the present and future of cancer research and treatment?
1:36.6	We get into it after the break.
1:38.6	I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast.
1:41.3	Stay with us. We've got a lot to get to.
1:48.0	Thank you. to the 1A podcast. To stay with us, we've got a lot to get to. World News is important, but it can feel far away, not on the state of the world podcast.
1:54.3	With journalists around the world, you'll hear firsthand the effects of U.S. trade actions in Canada and China and meet a Mexican street
2:02.5	sweeper who became a pop star. We don't go around the world. We're already there. Listen to the
2:09.1	State of the World podcast from NPR every weekday. The news is saturated with coverage of
2:14.9	President Trump, but it is easy to get overloaded.
2:17.5	So on Trump's terms, we bring you short, digestible stories, five minutes or less, about the 47th president.
	...

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