Integrative Cancer Care
Integrative Cancer Care combines the best of western medicine and evidence-based complementary approaches and lifestyle practices to achieve optimal health and healing for individuals living with cancer. It enables individuals who live with cancer and their families to experience the potential for extended life with greater depth and quality.
This holistic approach:
- Puts the patient at the center, empowering the individual to be fully informed and active in his or her own health and healthcare options.
- Targets the tumor while optimizing the health of the person with cancer in mind, body, and spirit.
- Expands the tools and approaches available to include complementary therapies and lifestyle practices to enhance the effects of cancer treatments, reduce treatment side effects, improve quality of life, and, when possible, to extend life.
What We Prioritize
We accept applications by invitation only. Alongside our General Funding Guidelines, our Integrative Cancer Care portfolio prioritizes grant investments that:
- Strengthen systems-level organizations and projects that spread evidence-based integrative practices and methods.
- Fuel field-building collaborations that advance the integration of conventional and complementary approaches.
- Train clinicians in the specialized expertise of integrative cancer care.
This work is not limited to certain geographic priorities. Please note that we do not fund clinical research projects, direct patient treatments or services, or patient/caregiver support groups.
If you feel that our priorities are strongly aligned, we encourage you to visit the Contact Us page to introduce your work for consideration.
Examples of initiatives we have supported include:
- Strategic planning and capacity building for an international professional organization advancing evidence-based integrative healthcare for people affected by cancer.
- Curriculum development for an integrative oncology certificate program providing evidence-based training to a multidisciplinary group of providers.
- Enhancement of a membership-based research database delivering up-to-date evidence on natural agents in cancer care to clinicians, researchers, individuals, and educational organizations.
- Targeted education dissemination to inform and empower patient choice (note: we are no longer expanding to additional initiatives in broader patient-facing information programs).