CPRIT receives Kay Bailey Hutchison Distinguished Service Award from TAMEST
On February 5, 2024, the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST) presented CPRIT with the Kay Bailey Hutchison Distinguished Service Award at their 2024 Annual Conference held in Austin. Wayne Roberts, CPRIT Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Michelle Le Beau, CPRIT Chief Scientific Officer, accepted the award on behalf of the agency at the opening reception of the conference held at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center.
TAMEST established the Kay Bailey Hutchison Distinguished Service Award in 2013 to recognize individuals and organizations who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in furthering TAMEST’s mission to bring together the state’s brightest minds in medicine, engineering, science, and technology to foster collaboration and to advance research, innovation, and business in Texas.
The award’s namesake, The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison, former United States Senator, and former United States Permanent Representative to NATO, received the inaugural award from TAMEST for her vision and commitment to advancing scientific research, technology innovation and educational achievement.
CPRIT launches interactive Texas Core Facilities map
The CPRIT Core Facilities Interactive Map
In September 2024, CPRIT launched the CPRIT-Funded Core Facilities Interactive Map, a comprehensive online resource cataloging CPRIT-funded core facilities across the state of Texas.
Core facilities are centralized research hubs that provide scientific and clinical investigators access to shared resources, such as instruments, technologies, and services, as well as expert consultation and other support.
CPRIT provides Core Facility Support grant awards to ensure that the most up-to-date technologies are available to cancer researchers for cutting-edge cancer research. Although they may be physically located at a university or research institution, each core facility’s tools, technologies, and specialized competencies are available to the wider research community across the state - expanding Texas cancer researchers’ capabilities, fostering collaboration, and accelerating discovery and translation.
The CPRIT-Funded Core Facilities Interactive Map helps cancer researchers and companies locate the particular expertise and available cutting-edge equipment, technologies, testing, and services that will further their research and development.
CPRIT releases 2024 Texas Cancer Plan
Texas Cancer Plan
The 2024 Texas Cancer Plan is a statewide strategic plan to reduce the cancer burden across Texas and improve the lives of Texans. As the statewide call to action for cancer prevention, control, and research, the plan identifies the challenges and issues that affect Texas and presents a set of goals, objectives, and strategies to help inform and direct communities in the fight against cancer. The 2024 Texas Cancer Plan provides a coordinated, prioritized, and actionable framework that guides statewide and community efforts to mitigate the cancer burden.
CPRIT is statutorily responsible for developing the Texas Cancer Plan. We issued the first Texas Cancer Plan under CPRIT’s leadership in 2012, with the second version released in 2018. Consistent with CPRIT administrative rule § 701.11, which directs CPRIT to periodically update the Texas Cancer Plan every seven years, CPRIT published the new edition in December 2024 as a fully integrated online resource. This enhanced format allows a comprehensive, adaptable approach for improving cancer prevention, care, and survivorship across Texas.
CPRIT Program Manager for Prevention Carlton Allen led the revision of the 2024 Texas Cancer Plan. He worked with Texas public health professionals, cancer prevention stakeholders, and resources across the state, including the Texas Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Branch, the Texas Cancer Registry, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System at the Texas Department of State Health Services as well as the Cancer Alliance of Texas and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program.
CPRIT’s strategic direction and funding opportunities align with the 2024 Texas Cancer Plan but are, by necessity, a subset of its goals and objectives. The overall outcome and success of efforts to reduce the state’s cancer burden will continue to depend on the cooperation, collaboration, and resources of stakeholders throughout Texas.
CPRIT’s Product Development Research Program receives record number of grant applications in 2024
CPRIT received a record number of applications for Product Development Research grants in fiscal year 2024. Companies submitted 142 preliminary applications, with 31 companies advancing to the full application review. Ultimately, CPRIT awarded 12 grants in FY 2024, investing $75 million in Texas-based companies working on new cancer drugs and treatments.
The unprecedented number of applications is a strong indicator of the vitality of the life science industry in Texas and points to the success of recent improvements made to the Product Development Research application and review process. In the updated process, companies submit a preliminary application to CPRIT for initial evaluation and scoring by panels of expert reviewers. CPRIT invites companies whose preliminary applications received the best scores to submit full applications for further, more extensive consideration, including a live presentation of their proposed project to a panel of experts.