California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program

In 2024, the State of California designated funds to the University of California (UC) Office of the President, per AB 700, for community-based participatory research projects to reduce the incidence of cancer among California firefighters.

Administered by the UC Research Grants Program Office, this competitive grant program invited applications from teams of CA-based firefighters and UC academics for research awards in two categories:

• California Firefighter Cancer Prevention Pilot Grants: up to $300,000 direct costs over 2 years to lay the groundwork for future, larger research efforts, supporting the initial phase of the project, including strengthening collaborations, development of tools and methods, testing feasibility, and collecting pilot data.

• California Firefighter Cancer Prevention Full Grants: up to $750,000 direct costs over 3 years to support robust partnerships with fully developed research plans that include supporting preliminary data; carried out by a well-integrated team of scientific and fire service members with demonstrated record of success conducting research.

These grants support research to reduce cancer among firefighters by examining the hallmarks of cancer and key characteristics of carcinogens as they relate to firefighters’ occupational exposures, characterizing biomarkers of cancer susceptibility or risk in firefighters, understanding carcinogenic exposures among firefighters, and informing intervention strategies to lower risks of developing cancer in firefighters.

The grant program is a partnership of UC Office of the President's Research and Innovation and the FIRESCOPE Program which is jointly administered by the Office of Emergency Services, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), and Office of the State Fire Marshall (SFM).

2024 Awards

In November 2024, the California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program announced eight awards, totaling nearly $6 million. These awards fund teams co-led by California-based firefighters and UC researchers to understand the causes of cancer in firefighters and how to prevent it. Applications were evaluated and selected through a competitive peer review process, as described in the Request for Proposals. See the 2024 Awards here.

Contacts

For any questions regarding the program, please contact the California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program at firefighter-cancer@ucop.edu.