Where Prostate Cancer Breakthroughs Actually Begin

From the Desk of Lori Tessel

Dr. Phil Koo and me at the Coffey-Holden Prostate Cancer Academy.

Dear Friends,

Some of the most important breakthroughs in prostate cancer don’t begin in a laboratory. They begin when the world’s brightest researchers come together to challenge one another’s thinking, share discoveries, and spark new ideas. That is exactly what I witnessed at PCF’s Coffey-Holden Prostate Cancer Academy.

One by one, researchers presented their work. Then others, drawn from a wide variety of disciplines across cancer science, jumped in to ask questions, offer ideas, and forge new partnerships. A geneticist pressed an imaging expert. A nutrition researcher challenged a clinician. Hands shot up before speakers could finish their slides. I have never seen curiosity move that fast.

This is what your generosity builds: brilliant minds shoulder to shoulder, tearing down the silos that can slow discovery. The ideas colliding in that room become the tests, the treatments, and the extra years that reach patients and families. Every question asked across disciplines, every young investigator encouraged to keep going: your generosity fuels all of it.

Together, we are accelerating the discoveries that will help millions of men live longer, fuller lives.

With gratitude,

Lori Tessel
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Prostate Cancer Foundation

Your Gifts Fund the Next Breakthrough

Some of the biggest leaps in prostate cancer care began with a bet on a young scientist who hadn’t yet made their name. That bet is PCF’s Young Investigator Award, and thanks to you, it keeps paying off for patients.

Consider a few of the people your support has backed:

Drs. Jeremie Calais, Thomas Hope, and Steve Cho helped pioneer the first FDA-approved PSMA PET imaging agents, which let doctors see prostate cancer with a clarity that wasn’t possible before.
Dr. Lorelei Mucci has published more than 300 studies unraveling how lifestyle, exercise, and nutrition shape the disease.
Dr. Heather Cheng is advancing genetic testing that helps families understand their inherited risk.

Every one of them was once an early-career researcher we chose to believe in.

That belief continues today. In 2025, your support helped us invest $6.3 million in 31 exceptional young researchers. For the 2026 cycle, 150 scientists from 80 institutions across 14 countries applied for the Young Investigator Award. We are reviewing their proposals now, and we will announce recipients in the coming months. Somewhere in that stack of applications is the next name you will read about one day.

And the Young Investigator Award is just one of the ways your gifts drive discovery, alongside Challenge Awards for team science and TACTICAL Awards for large-scale assaults on the deadliest forms of the disease. Together, they fuel innovation at every stage, from a first bold idea to a therapy at a patient’s bedside.

See the Research You Make Possible

Give Smarter, Give More

Here’s something many supporters don’t realize: some of the most powerful ways to give may actually cost you less.

Give directly from your IRA. If you’re 70½ or older, a Qualified Charitable Distribution lets you give straight from your IRA tax-free, up to the annual IRS limit. If you’re 73 or older, it can also count toward your required minimum distribution.

Donate appreciated stock. You avoid capital gains tax and deduct the full market value.

Use a Donor Advised Fund. Give now, deduct now, and recommend grants to PCF on your own timeline.

Double your impact. Many employers match charitable gifts, so yours could go twice as far in just a few clicks.

Whatever fits you best, every gift drives the research that saves lives.

Explore Ways to Give

Prefer to talk it through? Reach out to our team and we would be glad to help you find the approach that’s right for you.

Tax and legal information here is general in nature. Please consult your own tax or financial advisor about your situation.

Curing Together™