The Foundation (FBCCRF) is dedicated to ending breast cancer through advocacy, education and research. Our grassroots efforts led to the creation, in 2002, of the "End Breast Cancer" specialty license plate. The Foundation will award research and educational grants in Florida from the sale of these license plates and other donations.

Due in part to the advocacy efforts of our grassroots network, the Foundation has a unique relationship with the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (DOD BCRP). The DODBCRP began in 1991 as a partnership among advocacy organizations, specifically the National Breast Cancer Coalition, of which we are an affiliate, the DOD and U.S. Congress. Since its inception in 1991, federal funding for the DOD's BCRP has exceeded $1 billion for peer reviewed breast cancer research.

The DODBCRP uses a two-tiered peer review process recommended by the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate competitive research and training proposals. Scientific peer review, the first tier of review, is a criterion-based process whereby proposals are evaluated on their own scientific and technical merit. Programmatic review, the second tier of review, is a comparison-based process in which submissions from multiple disciplines compete within a common pool. Consumers have an equal vote with scientists in both levels of review. In order to ensure the highest quality, the peer review process convenes at least 30 review panels of 25 scientists and consumers for each grant cycle.

The DOD and the Foundation first partnered in 2004 to inform all unfunded grant applicants from Florida that they may submit their scored and ranked proposal to the Foundation for consideration of a grant. The DOD’s category of Concept Awards currently best matches the Foundation’s focus, intent and available funds. The Concept Awards invite new avenues of approach in breast cancer research.

The Foundation is currently reviewing Concept Awards, and Post-doctoral and Pre-doctoral proposals. We encourage eligible applicants from Florida to apply to the DODBCRP which will forward unfunded proposals to FBCCRF for review. Information on all DOD breast cancer research programs is available on their website at http://cdmrp.army.mil. FBCCRF will be continuously evaluating and redesigning its research program as it expands financial resources and might, in future years, partner with DOD in additional categories.