ICRF was founded in 1975 by a group of American and Canadian physicians, scientists and lay people who sought to prevent the permanent loss of Israel's most promising cancer researchers to foreign universities due to the lack of funding in Israel for newly-minted Ph.D.s, post-doctoral fellows and accomplished young scientists (a phenomenon known to many as Israel's "brain drain."). With chapters in NY, LA, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and Jerusalem, ICRF annually sponsors a rigorous grant review process conducted by an expert panel of U.S. and Canadian scientists and oncologists, and modeled on the NIH grant-making process. Awards are granted directly to the most promising and capable Israeli cancer researchers at all of the leading (more than 20) academic and biomedical research centers throughout Israel. ICRF has funded more than $33 million to-date in awards to Israeli cancer researchers via more than 1,575 fellowships, project grants, career development awards and professorships.

• ICRF directly funds individual scientists, rather than "bricks and mortar." Money goes directly to research.
• ICRF is "institution-neutral." Its funding goes to scientists at all of Israel's top biomedical research centers.
• ICRF awards are made without deduction of institutional overhead. 100% of awarded funds go to scientists in Israel.
• ICRF awards are made solely on the basis of scientific merit and the ability of the individual scientist to make a significant impact in his/her field.
• ICRF awards are often the first grants that young Israeli scientists receive following completion of their academic training, and have a life-long impact on the ability of young Israeli scientists to begin their professional careers in Israel.

• They are among the largest available to Israeli cancer researchers, who must often compete against better-funded U.S. and European scientists.
• They enable many post-doctoral fellows to return from overseas fellowships, start careers, establish laboratories and build families in Israel, rather than being lost forever to foreign academic institutions or companies.
• They fund basic and clinical research that can have dramatic, global impact. Discoveries made by ICRF-funded scientists have led to major advances in the understanding and treatment of cancer. For example, ICRF-funded scientists have:
• Won Israel's first two Nobel Prizes in the sciences (2004 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, Prof. Avram Hershko and Prof. Aaron Ciechanover).
• Demonstrated that the p53 gene acts as a tumor suppressor -- one of the hallmark discoveries in cancer in the 20th Century
• Identified the structure of the Philadelphia Chromosome, the first genetic linkage identified in leukemia, leading to the development of Gleevec, one of the first targeted cancer therapies.
• Developed the cancer drug Doxil, for ovarian, breast and AIDS-related cancers
• Made discoveries leading to the life-saving cancer drug Velcade, for multiple myeloma.
• They provide impressive economic leverage, leading from scientific discoveries, to new drugs and therapies, new sources of royalty revenue for Israeli research institutions, new start-up companies in Israel, new jobs for graduates with life science degrees in Israel, and new funding from global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and from venture capital investors. They help Israel's best scientists to maintain their rightful place on the world stage, bringing recognition, praise and pride to the State of Israel.
• An important fact: 2004 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, received his very first funding award from ICRF, which enabled him to return to Israel from a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT. Were it not for ICRF, Prof. Ciechanover may not have been able to afford to begin and then continue his outstanding career in Israel.

ICRF funding fills a serious and chronic funding gap for academic research in Israel that has been exacerbated by the summer 2006 war with Hezbollah and recurrent security threats due to Islamic terrorism and Palestinian violence. Government funding for academic research in general, and for young Ph.D.s in particular, is usually the first to be cut in times of national urgency in Israel.

Israel's greatest natural resource is its brain power, and its highest-valued human capital is in its scientists. By providing the funding necessary to help Israeli scientists start or continue their careers in Israel, ICRF makes an outsized contribution to Israel's future.