Episode #24: Fran Visco on Changing How Cancer Research Is Funded
When Fran Visco was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, she was a law firm partner, a wife, and a mother. She was also a longtime activist who did not believe in simply accepting a system that needed to change. Today, she is President of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), and in a recent episode of All Things Cancer, she sat down with NFCR CEO Dr. Sujuan Ba to discuss what happens when patients earn a seat at the table.
NBCC grew out of a meeting of women who looked to the AIDS activist movement as a model for breast cancer. Its founders set three equal goals: meaningful research, access to care for everyone, and influence over the laws, research agendas, and decisions that shape the fight against the disease. Its first campaign was to raise federal research funding, and rather than guess at a number, NBCC held its own hearings with scientists to learn how much money could be spent well.
Influence, Fran explains, requires preparation. NBCC’s Project LEAD science training program has run since the mid-1990s and has trained more than 2,600 advocates in the language, concepts, and process of science. Trained advocates take part in reviewing research funded by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, where Fran was the first lay advocate to chair the integration panel.
Her central message is that the key question is not how much money is devoted to science, but how that money is spent. Fran says scientists often submit conservative proposals they think will get funded and hold back their bolder ideas, and she argues that the system needs dedicated funding for high-risk, high-reward research, even though some of it will fail.
That thinking led to the Artemis Project, NBCC’s own effort to bring scientists and advocates together around two questions: how to prevent breast cancer, and how to stop metastasis. When NBCC first asked whether a preventive breast cancer vaccine was possible, Fran says, the experts it gathered told her she was crazy. The more they talked, the more they agreed the question was worth asking.
Fran also looks back on NBCC’s goal to end breast cancer by 2020. The deadline passed, but she says the goal changed how some scientists think about risk, and she would set it again.
Listen to the full conversation on All Things Cancer on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.
About All Things Cancer
Each episode of All Things Cancer will spotlight the most pressing topics in oncology, from cutting-edge treatments and emerging research to personal stories of resilience and hope. More than just a podcast, it’s a platform for raising awareness, advancing cancer education, and fostering a global community of support and collaboration.
Hosted by NFCR CEO, Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., this compelling series will bring together the entire ecosystem of cancer research—including leading scientists, oncologists, doctors, patient advocates, caregivers, biotech innovators, and survivors—for powerful discussions on the breakthroughs shaping the future of cancer research, treatment, and care.
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