The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) supports groundbreaking cancer research by outstanding scientists in Israel. It is a voluntary charitable organization funded exclusively by private donations. Israeli researchers have been at the forefront of many of this decade’s most exciting developments in cancer research.

ICRF acts like the venture capital bank of cancer funding in Israel. Unlike many of the enormous government and private “cancer establishment” funding institutions, ICRF is open to imaginative new approaches and will often take a risk on new ideas. Research grants are awarded based strictly on merit – they do not favour any individual, institution or scientific point of view. The grant review process is rigorous, ensuring that only the most promising cancer research is funded. ICRF’s Scientific Review Panel is composed of more than 30 leading cancer researchers from Canada and the United States.

ICRF was founded in 1975 by a group of Canadian and American researchers, oncologists and lay people who were committed to the growth and development of Israel and to fighting cancer. They realized that a unique confluence of circumstance had positioned Israel to excel at cancer research:

Superb scientists: Israel has the world’s highest per capita concentration of scientists and physicians. The only thing the country needs more of is money to properly fund research.

Cost-effective research: the cost of conducting a research project in Israel is
30 per cent less than that of running the same project in Canada and the United States.

Well-equipped research network: Israel has a network of well-equipped laboratories, sophisticated hospitals and universities. Monies contributed go directly to advancing knowledge, not on constructing buildings or paying administrative costs.

Unified health care system: all Israelis belong to a national medical program, so record keeping and bio-statistical data collection are relatively simple.

Ethnic diversity: the Israeli population comprises of ethnic groups from many countries, making the nation itself a superb “laboratory” in which to study the role of environmental and cultural factors in the development of cancer.

http://www.icrfbuzz.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7:about-icrf&catid=6:about-icrf&Itemid=8

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC  Canadian funding corp CEO