The Oral Cancer Foundation’s missions are rooted in science. OCF funds life-saving research that elucidates mechanisms for early discovery and advances disease understanding. We provide direct peer-to-peer support for oral cancer patients and their caregivers. We disseminate vetted professional and public information on oral and oropharyngeal cancer and advocate for national policies that support disease awareness, early detection, and improved treatments and outcomes. Our foundation’s mission is to change patients’ lives today and improve outcomes in the future.
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The Oral Cancer Foundation’s core mission is to reduce the incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers in the US population, and support those who are currently or have been impacted by the disease. We do so through the following mechanisms.
We provide the most current, vetted scientific information about the disease in one central location: the OCF website, which has hundreds of regularly reviewed pages on the disease, treatments, research, and more. Anyone can access this information free of charge, and our site is regularly used by patients, students, doctors, researchers, and the general public interested in the disease. An informed public can avoid risk factors for disease development and recognize early signs and symptoms that facilitate early diagnosis and treatment.
The foundation is the home of the world’s largest patient support group for this disease. Located online, it currently has about 13,500 registered members (2026). Carefully monitored for content and appropriateness, it is a safe space where users can interact with each other and with the professionals who monitor it anonymously. Beyond direct interaction, there are over 250k conversation threads that can be searched for relevant answers to the problems our patients have experienced.
OCF directly funds research on oral and oropharyngeal cancers in the US. We specifically underwrite and co-contribute with the NCI and others to work that has implications in early discovery. Early discovery of this cancer yields lower treatment-related morbidity and better long-term outcomes for patients. Typical sciences funded include salivary diagnostics and tissue autofluorescence as early screening tools, as well as extensive work on the HPV virus, which is driving the rapid acceleration in the incidence of oropharyngeal cancers today. We now also fund immunotherapeutic treatment research, which is changing the core way we think about fighting all cancers.
We are an advocate for oral cancer-related issues in many arenas, including federal agencies such as the NIH/National Cancer Institute, the CDC, and the FDA. We have worked directly with political figures in the Senate to advance the control of tobacco via the FDA, a primary cause of our disease. We have argued and advanced the vaccination issue with the CDC to allow young males to be vaccinated with the HPV vaccine, which was previously only available to young females, protecting them from future oropharyngeal cancers caused by this virus. We have engaged the dental and dental hygiene communities to provide annual opportunistic oral cancer screening as part of routine practice, and we have the support and strategic partnership of every major dental professional organization to accomplish this.
Each of these areas of endeavor supports our core mission of reducing disease incidence and supporting patients.
