On Mar. 24, 2003, the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University announced it had received a $10 million award from the U.S. Dept. of Defense for prostate cancer research.

The grant funded development of a new prostate cancer research consortium consisting of 13 universities from eight states over three years. It was the largest, federally funded, three-year award for prostate cancer research in history.

The Prostate Cancer Research program was initiated by Congress in 1997 and had received $395 million dollars for peer-reviewed research from 1997 to 2002, providing more than 800 awards to institutions for research into better diagnosis, treatment and steps toward a cure for cancer. For fiscal year 2003, the Prostate Cancer Research program had received an appropriation of $85 million.