The Heather Cutler Foundation · Research & Advocacy
The Heather Cutler Foundation tracks how pancreatic cancer care is funded, approved, and delivered across Canada — and publishes what it finds. This hub holds the foundation’s policy priorities, the provincial report card, its reports and submissions to government, and its drug-approval transparency work.
4 policy priorities2026 provincial report cardReports & submissions
Four connected priorities guide the foundation’s advocacy. The full statement of each — the problem, the ask, and how progress will be measured — is on the policy priorities page.
One national standard for pancreatic cancer care, so the treatment a patient is offered does not depend on their postal code. The foundation serves on the national working committee developing these pathways.
The priority →Testing that can match a patient to the right treatment should be funded and available in every province — not only in some. The foundation tracks the gaps province by province.
The priority →Trials are treatment options. Canadians should be able to find them, qualify for them, and reach them — including from Atlantic Canada, where trial sites are fewest.
The priority →How long approvals take, who decides, and what gets funded should be visible to the patients waiting on the answers. The foundation tracks approval and funding decisions in the open.
The priority →The national audit
Every province and territory, graded across eight categories on the public evidence — strategy, testing, drug costs, trials, timely care, travel, workforce and research. Six jurisdictions earned a grade; seven had too little evidence to grade.
The foundation’s student research program. Its Summer 2025 cohort — seven Memorial University undergraduate researchers — researched and graded the provincial report card from the public record.
About the program →The foundation’s published reports, and its submissions and consultation feedback to governments — the written record of the advocacy, kept in one place.
Reports & submissions →The rubric and evidence rules behind the provincial report card — the eight categories, the 0–4 scoring bands, and what counted as evidence.
Read the methodology →The foundation’s Atlantic Canada pancreatic cancer research fund — why it exists and what it supports.
About the fund →Research & Advocacy — The Heather Cutler Foundation, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador.