Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Ovarian Cancer Canada (OCC)

Ovarian Cancer Canada (OCC) is a national non-profit organization whose purpose is to transform outcomes for people affected by ovarian cancer. In addition to awareness and support activities, OCC plays a central role as a research funder in Canada. The organization channels donations and partnership funding into projects that span the ovarian cancer continuum, from basic discovery science and pre-clinical work to real-world and interventional clinical trials.

On its research pages, OCC describes how it maximizes impact along the ovarian cancer continuum by supporting discovery, pre-clinical and clinical research, and by enabling the establishment of key national resources such as patient tissue banks, biorepositories, rare tumour databases and research models. The research showcase highlights dozens of projects led by investigators at universities, cancer centres and hospitals across provinces, illustrating that OCC’s support goes well beyond in-house activities.

The research showcase and filters explicitly recognize OCC’s roles as funder, collaborator, convener and lead. Projects in this portfolio include early detection tools such as mDETECT liquid biopsy, imaging and lavage techniques, innovative CAR‑T and RNA vaccine therapies, biobank development, population-based outcomes research, survivorship and psychosocial studies, as well as national initiatives like the Every Woman Study: Canadian Edition. Entries label contributors as “funded researcher” or “funded trainee”, signalling that OCC provides direct financial support to both senior scientists and emerging researchers.

OCC also invests in research capacity by supporting the development of new models and platforms, such as patient‑derived xenografts, organoids and rare tumour registries. Health equity initiatives and prevention-focused projects, including work on opportunistic salpingectomy and hereditary cancer care, further broaden the scope of its funding.

OCC’s funding strategy is explicitly patient-centred. The organization trains and engages patient partners in priority setting and research design, and aims to ensure that even the rarest subtypes of ovarian cancer receive attention. Through conferences, such as the Canadian Conference on Ovarian Cancer Research, and through formal partnerships with government agencies, research institutes, charities and industry, OCC helps to convene and grow the ovarian cancer research community.

By combining philanthropy, strategic partnerships and rigorous selection of research projects across Canada, Ovarian Cancer Canada seeks to create a future in which ovarian cancer is preventable, curable and ultimately eradicated.