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The National Cancer Institute is established
A dated cancer milestone (1937): the U.S. federal center for cancer research and information. Why it mattered, its limits, and how the field evolved.
Original commentary from the Cancer Explained editorial team.
Historical context: this page explains an event dated 1937. It was published as an explainer on July 12, 2026 and is not breaking news.
Please note: this page is educational only — it is not medical advice, and it does not speculate about anyone’s health beyond reliable public reporting. For questions about your own health, talk with your healthcare team.
Historical milestone — this page describes an event dated 1937. It is not current breaking news.
What the law did
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Cancer Act of 1937 on August 5, 1937. It began as Senate Bill 2067 and became Public Law 244.
The act created the National Cancer Institute as an independent research division inside the Public Health Service. NCI was assembled from two existing pieces: the Office of Cancer Investigations at Harvard University, and a pharmacology division of the National Institutes of Health.
From that point the federal government had a lead agency for cancer research and training. NCI notes one detail that is easy to skate past: this was the first time Congress funded work on a disease that is not contagious.
What the text actually authorized
The statute is short, and reading it shows how modest the starting point was. It directed the Surgeon General, working through the Institute, to:
- Conduct and support research into the cause, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
- Coordinate that research with work being done elsewhere.
- Provide training in diagnosis and treatment, and fund fellowships.
- Obtain advice from cancer experts in the United States and abroad.
- Work with state health agencies on prevention and control.
- Procure, use, and lend radium.
It also created the National Advisory Cancer Council: six members appointed by the Surgeon General with the Treasury Secretary's approval, chosen from leading medical or scientific authorities, serving three-year terms for $25 a day. That body still exists, renamed the National Cancer Advisory Board.
A committee report accompanying the bill named the problem in plain terms: there were not enough places in the country where patients could get adequate treatment.
The radium clause
The provision authorizing the government to buy radium and lend it out is the clearest marker of its era.
In 1937, radium was among the few tools that could shrink a tumor, and it was expensive enough that most hospitals could not buy it. A federal lending library for a radioactive element was a reasonable answer to that.
It is also a reminder that today's standard care is a snapshot, not an endpoint. Radiation therapy is still central to cancer treatment, but it is delivered by machines that shape a beam to the tumor, and handling loose radium has no place in modern practice.
What NCI does for a person now
The 1937 act built an institution most people encounter indirectly. Some of what it produces is directly usable:
- PDQ summaries on cancer.gov, written in two versions: a patient version and a health-professional version with the clinical detail behind it.
- SEER, the registry program that produces the survival and incidence statistics quoted across cancer information, including on this site.
- A clinical trials database searchable by cancer type and location.
- A cancer information service reachable at 1-800-4-CANCER.
Reading the health-professional version of a PDQ summary is worth knowing about. It is denser, but it carries the evidence and the numbers rather than a simplified account of them.
Cancer, and where screening exists
Cancer is a group of diseases in which cells grow without the usual controls and can spread. There are more than 100 types, sorted by where they begin and how the cells behave. Our page on what cancer is covers the biology.
Screening tests look for cancer before symptoms appear. They exist for some cancers and not others, which is one of the most commonly misunderstood facts in this field. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends:
- Colorectal cancer: screening for all adults aged 45 to 75. For ages 76 to 85 it is an individual decision based on health and prior screening.
- Breast cancer: a mammogram every two years for women aged 40 to 74.
- Cervical cancer: cytology every 3 years from ages 21 to 29. From 30 to 65, either cytology every 3 years, high-risk HPV testing every 5 years, or both together every 5 years.
- Lung cancer: an annual low-dose CT scan for adults aged 50 to 80 with a 20 pack-year smoking history who smoke now or quit within the past 15 years.
There is no recommended screening for most other cancers in people at average risk. For those, symptoms are the signal. Our cancer screening overview explains how a test earns a place on that list, and our colorectal cancer screening guide covers the options for the one that starts earliest.
When to make an appointment
Screening is for people without symptoms. If you have symptoms, screening is not the right route — an assessment is. Contact a clinician about:
- Bleeding that has no obvious explanation: in stool or urine, between periods, after menopause, or when coughing.
- A lump anywhere that is new, firm, or growing, or that has lasted more than three weeks.
- Unintended weight loss of more than 10% of your body weight over six months.
- A cough, hoarseness, or difficulty swallowing lasting more than three weeks.
- A change in bowel habit lasting more than three weeks.
- A mole that changes shape, color, or size, or that itches or bleeds.
Most of these turn out not to be cancer. They are still worth an appointment.
What to keep in perspective
- The 1937 act founded the institute on a small scale. The large budgets and the National Cancer Program arrived with the National Cancer Act of 1971.
- Creating a research agency did not by itself improve anyone's care. The gains came decades later, from the work it funded.
- Radium lending was central in 1937 and is obsolete now, which is a useful check on assuming any current practice is permanent.
- This page summarizes a historical event. It is not medical advice, and screening decisions belong with your own clinician.
Sources
This article was written from the sources below, which were checked on the source-check date shown above.
- National Cancer Institute, National Cancer Act of 1937, including the text of the act: https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/overview/history/national-cancer-act-1937
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Colorectal Cancer: Screening: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/colorectal-cancer-screening
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Breast Cancer: Screening: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/breast-cancer-screening
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Cervical Cancer: Screening: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/cervical-cancer-screening
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Lung Cancer: Screening: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/lung-cancer-screening
How this page was made
An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.
The National Cancer Information Foundation publishes Cancer Explained. It is not a diagnostic service, does not recommend treatments, and is not for emergencies.
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Put the story in context
Prevention, possible warning signs, screening, and diagnosis
This story relates to Cancer. The information below is general: it does not reveal anything else about a public person’s health, and not every point applies to every cancer. Personal advice depends on age, symptoms, family history, exposures, and medical history.
Prevention and risk reduction
Not every cancer can be prevented. Avoiding tobacco, protecting skin from ultraviolet radiation, limiting alcohol, staying active, and receiving recommended HPV or hepatitis B vaccination can lower the risk of certain cancers. A risk factor is not a prediction or a cause in one individual.
Symptoms and possible early signs
Possible signs vary and are often caused by conditions other than cancer. Changes worth discussing include a new lump, unexplained bleeding or weight loss, a persistent cough, lasting bowel or bladder changes, a changing skin spot, or symptoms that persist or worsen. Some early cancers cause no symptoms.
Screening and early detection
Screening looks for certain cancers before symptoms begin. Recommended tests exist only for some cancers and depend on age and risk. Screening can have benefits and harms; it is not the same as evaluating a new symptom, and there is no single routine scan or blood test that reliably screens for every cancer.
How cancer is diagnosed
Diagnosis may involve a history and exam, imaging, laboratory tests, and often a biopsy. Pathology can identify the cancer type and may test biomarkers that guide treatment. Symptoms, screening results, tumor markers, or online stories alone cannot confirm cancer.
A public story may encourage questions, but it should not be used to estimate your risk or choose testing. Contact a healthcare professional about a persistent or concerning change. Seek urgent care for severe or rapidly worsening symptoms.