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FY 2025 Annual Report Highlights

July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025

Download FY 2025 Annual Report download

All Grants and Cancer Research Investments Made, Cumulative Years 

This section includes the number and dollar amounts of grants awarded (per RCW 43.348.050(5)).

From its inception through June 30, 2025, CARE Fund has awarded more than $68 million in grants and investments to advance cancer research across Washington. These investments span a broad spectrum of categories.

Number and Amount of Grants and Other Investments
Fiscal Year Grants and Other Investments Total Awards Total Amounts
2025 Breakthrough Research Continued Funding $836,731
2025 Rivkin Center / CARE Fund Award 2 $300,000
2025 Implementation and Outcomes Research 10 $10,256,298
2025 Total 12 $11,393,029
2024 Public Health Seattle & King County Partnership 1 $500,000
2024 Rivkin Center / CARE Fund Award 2 $200,000
2024 Total 3 $700,000
2023 Breakthrough Research Continued Funding $3,421,555
2023 Breakthrough Seed Funding 6 $2,277,936
2023 Distinguished Researchers 3 $1,497,519
2023 Emergent Issues in Public Health 1 $249,993
2023 Inclusion and Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials 6 $5,423,443
2023 Life Science Start Up and Development 16 $16,591,772
2023 Population Health 5 $2,246,908
2023 Shared Resources and Infrastructure 8 $7,670,750
2023 Total 45 $39,379,876
2022 Breakthrough Research Continued Funding $3,000,000
2022 Distinguished Researchers 4 $1,845,000
2022 Total 4 $4,845,000
2021 Breakthrough Research Continued Funding $3,000,000
2021 COVID-19 Response 3 $299,907
2021 Population Health 2 $397,370
2021 Total 5 $3,697,277
2020 Breakthrough Research Continued Funding $1,356,961
2020 COVID-19 Response 5 $499,981
2020 Distinguished Researchers 1 $500,000
2020 Total 6 $2,356,942
2019 Breakthrough Research 2 $1,150,000
2019 Distinguished Researchers 5 $2,500,000
2019 Total 7 $3,650,000
2018 Distinguished Researchers 4 $2,000,000
2018 Total 4 $2,000,000
Total Grants Awarded to Date: 06/30/2025
86 $68,022,124

$68,022,124

In Total Investments and Grants Awarded through June 30, 2025

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Grants, Grantees and Other Investments Current and Prior Fiscal Year

This section includes the number and dollar amounts of grants as well as grantees for the prior year (per RCW43.348.050(5)). Grants and awards represent those made in FY 2024 and FY 2025.

In FY 2024 and FY 2025, CARE Fund continued to broaden its impact through both direct grants and innovative co-funding partnerships.

In FY 2024 CARE Fund partnered with the Rivkin Center to co-invest in ovarian cancer research through the Rivkin Center/CARE Fund Awards, and with Public Health – Seattle & King County on a project addressing youth smoking and vaping prevention. These co-funding partnerships leverage non-state resources for cancer research by collaborating with other grantmakers and organizations.

FY 2025 marked the launch of CARE Fund’s new Implementation and Outcomes Research opportunity, resulting in the first awards in this category to projects focused on advancing the application and evaluation of cancer research discoveries.

GRANTS AWARDED AND CANCER PARTNERSHIP INVESTMENTS

Fiscal Year 2024

Program

Grantee Organization, Principal Investigator, and Proposal

Research Area (may include more than the listed area)

Cancer Type

Total Awarded

Intergovernmental Agreements

Public Health Seattle & King County
Cannabis, Tobacco, and Vapor Prevention Program Research Partnership

Prevention

Multiple Types

$500,000

Rivkin Center / CARE Fund Award

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
(Holly Harris, MPH, ScD)
Identifying Ovarian Cancer Risk Factors Among Women with Endometriosis

Prevention

Ovarian

$100,000

Rivkin Center / CARE Fund Award

University of Washington 
(Elizabeth Swisher, MD)
Overcoming Barriers to Genetic Testing for Hereditary Ovarian Cancer Risk, a Key Step Toward Prevention

Prevention

Ovarian

$100,000

Please note that some grantees may have received awards for multiple projects. Dollar amounts
reflect only CARE Fund’s grant, excluding matching funds from other sources.

$700,000

Total Partnership Investments in Fiscal Year 2024

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Grants Awarded and Cancer Partnership Investments

Fiscal Year 2025

Program

Grantee Organization, Principal Investigator, and Proposal

Research Area (may include more than the listed area)

Cancer Type

Total Awarded

Breakthrough Research

University of Washington 
(André Lieber, MD, PhD)
Recombinant Epithelial Junction Opener Protein for Enhanced Drug Penetration in Epithelial Tumors

Treatment

Ovarian

$836,731

Rivkin Center / CARE Fund Award

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
(Megan Shen, PhD) 
Adaptation of Helping Ovarian Cancer Patients COPE (HOPE) for Clinician Burnout

Cancer Control, Survivorship, and Outcomes

Ovarian

$150,000

Rivkin Center / CARE Fund Award

University of Washington 
(Mary L. “Nora” Disis, MD)
A Vaccine to Prevent Ovarian Cancer Metastatic Spread

Treatment

Ovarian

$150,000

Grants Awarded and Cancer Partnership Investments

IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES RESEARCH

Fiscal Year 2025

Grantee Organization, Principal Investigator, and Proposal

Research Area (may include more than the listed area)

Cancer Type

Total Awarded

Dotquant, LLC (Hongyan Liu, PhD) A Three-in-One HER Family Targeted RNA Drug for Breast Cancer

Treatment

Breast

$265,460

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, MPH; Amanda Fretts, PhD, MPH) Partnering with Washington State Tribal Communities to Develop Culturally-Tailored 
Nutrition Resources and Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

Prevention

Multiple Types

$1,499,378

Seattle Children’s Research Institute (Jim Olson, MD, PhD)
Converting an Immunotherapy Resistance Mechanism into a 
Vulnerability Using Slow-Release Local Immunotherapy

Treatment

Multiple Types

$1,479,768

Seattle Children’s Research Institute (Jonathan Tang, PhD)
Advanced Platform for Developing Conditionally Stable 
Sensors and Effectors for Cancer Applications

Early Detection,  Diagnosis, and Prognosis

Pan-Cancer

$1,000,000

Talus Bioscience, Inc. (Alex Federation, PhD) Development of a Direct Inhibitor of the Brachyury Transcription Factor for 
Chordoma and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Treatment

Multiple Types

$500,000

University of Washington (Xiaohu Gao, PhD) RNA 
Therapeutics: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Translation 

Treatment

Prostate

$1,321,898

University of Washington (Peggy Hannon, PhD, MPH) 
Workplace Cancer Prevention and Screening: Scaling Up Connect to Wellness for Employees in Low-Wage Industries Across Washington State

Prevention

Multiple Types

$708,432

University of Washington (Paul Nghiem, MD, PhD) Advancing Merkel Cell Carcinoma Management: Improved Recurrence Detection and New Approaches for Immunotherapy-Refractory Disease

Treatment

Merkel Cell Carcinoma

$1,303,927

University of Washington (Sarah Psutka, MD, MSc; Cindy Lin, MD, FACSM, FAAPMR) Phase II Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial evaluating a Scalable, Personalized Home-Based Activity Intervention with ExerciseRx in Survivors with Nonmuscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: The EMPOWER Trial

Cancer Control, Survivorship, and Outcomes Research

Bladder

$1,000,000

Wayfinder Biosciences, Inc. (David Sparkman-Yager, PhD)
Developing Novel Small Molecule Therapeutics for MYC-Driven Cancers Using Wayfinder Biosciences’ Proprietary RNA-Drugging Platform

Treatment

Multiple Types

$1,177,435

$11,393,029

Total Awards and Partnership Investments in Fiscal Year 2025

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Total Awarded by cancer type

Fiscal Year 2025

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