NCI Renews $16.3M Grant Supporting Wistar–ChristianaCare Cancer Research Partnership
Five-Year Funding to Advance Translational Research and First-in-Human Oncology Trials
The National Cancer Institute has renewed a major funding award for a long-running research partnership between The Wistar Institute and ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, providing $16.3 million over the next five years to support joint cancer research and clinical translation efforts.
The renewal extends the partnership’s Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) and received an “exceptional” rating—the highest possible score in the NCI review process—reflecting the collaboration’s scientific strength and patient impact, the institutions said.
Leaders at Wistar and ChristianaCare described the alliance as a national model that links basic laboratory discovery with community-based oncology care, aiming to speed the movement of new findings into trials and, ultimately, into routine treatment. The partnership focuses on hard-to-treat diseases including pancreatic, melanoma, breast, lung and ovarian cancers.
According to the institutions, the grant supports shared infrastructure and scientific resources that allow researchers and clinicians to work across both organizations, helping convert lab breakthroughs into clinical studies in a diverse patient population.
“At ChristianaCare, we are committed to bringing innovation directly to the people we serve,” said Thomas Schwaab, M.D., Ph.D., Bank of America Endowed Medical Director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. He said the NCI’s top rating recognizes the promise of the collaboration and the progress already underway.
Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., director of the Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research at the Graham Cancer Center and associate director of Translational Research at The Wistar Institute Cancer Center, said the renewed funding will help expand access to cutting-edge research and therapies for patients in Delaware and beyond.
Dario Altieri, M.D., president and CEO of The Wistar Institute and director of its Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, said the partnership’s distinguishing feature is its ability to move discoveries—such as those in melanoma and ovarian cancer—quickly into clinical practice through ChristianaCare.
The institutions said research supported through the collaboration has included investigator-initiated, first-in-human oncology clinical trials across multiple cancer types, expanded joint programs in cancer risk and population health, increased access to biospecimens such as tumor tissue and blood samples, and strengthened shared capabilities in immunotherapy research, organoid development, xenograft models and molecular profiling.
Founded in 2011, the Wistar–ChristianaCare partnership has grown into what the organizations describe as a nationally recognized alliance bridging research and patient care. With the renewed grant, they plan to broaden work in key cancer areas while continuing programs focused on prevention, early detection, and training for future physician–scientists.g.
