# NCI Explores AI Cancer Care Initiatives

The National Cancer Institute is considering “Every Patient,” an early-stage initiative to improve collection of cancer-care records across the United States, but Director Anthony Letai said NCI has not decided whether to advance it. Separately, NCI and the Foundation for the NIH announced a **$200 million** therapeutic cancer vaccine initiative that will explore AI applications. NIH components have also funded work integrating AI with electronic health records to identify potentially eligible clinical trials, although specific programs were not named. No solicitation, award to a contractor, or procurement timeline is identified, so these activities signal potential market needs rather than current bid opportunities.

- Health IT, AI, and research contractors may find future needs in health-data integration, cancer-record retrieval, clinical-trial matching, and AI-enabled cancer research.
- The vaccine initiative is a significant research investment, but the available information does not identify contract vehicles, awardees, or how funding will be allocated.
- Companies can use these program areas to assess relevant capabilities and partnerships; they should not treat “Every Patient” as an active solicitation because NCI has not decided whether to proceed.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Healthcare, Information Technology
**Topics:** Artificial Intelligence, Grants & Funding
**Published:** November 13, 2026

### Government Entities
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)

### Key Quotes
> Lots and lots of our portfolio is shifting toward AI because it is the most revolutionary tool there is, I've seen, in biomedicine in quite a long time.
> — Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health

### Sources
- [National Cancer Institute teases AI-assisted cancer care records retrieval - Nextgov/FCW](https://www.nextgov.com/artificial-intelligence/2026/11/national-cancer-institute-teases-ai-assisted-cancer-care-records-retrieval/417214) - Nextgov/FCW