GLOBAL OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH CONSORTIUM AWARDS INAUGURAL AI ACCELERATOR GRANT WITH MICROSOFT'S AI FOR GOOD LAB

$1 million global research award, plus $1 million in compute support, advances AI-driven efforts to personalize ovarian cancer care

NEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Ovarian Cancer Research Consortium awarded its inaugural AI Accelerator Grant to an international research team studying whether artificial intelligence (AI) can improve prediction of survival and treatment response in ovarian cancer.

The grant provides $1 million in research funding, plus up to $1 million in in-kind Azure compute credits from Microsoft's AI for Good Lab.

Launched in 2025 by Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, the Consortium's first initiative is the AI Accelerator Grant, created to accelerate ovarian cancer research through global collaboration and advanced AI tools.

The selected project — AI to Predict Exceptional and Poor Survival from Real-World Biomarkers for Clinical Application — focuses on high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), the most common and deadly form of the disease.

Despite advances in therapy, clinicians still cannot reliably predict how an individual patient's cancer will behave or which therapies are most likely to deliver lasting benefit.

The research team, representing the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, will analyze a large international ovarian cancer dataset integrating tumor samples, genetic information and lifestyle factors from thousands of patients.

Using AI models, researchers will identify patterns linked to survival and treatment response not detectable with current tools.

"While new therapies have generated a lot of enthusiasm, we have not been able to reliably predict who is likely to benefit long-term from these treatments and who is not. We urgently need new tools to more accurately predict survival and guide clinical decision-making to improve overall patient outcomes," said principal investigator Leigh Pearce, Ph.D., M.P.H., Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and co-leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center.

"This grant reflects exactly why we created the Global Ovarian Cancer Research Consortium — to bring together outstanding global partners to tackle the challenges that have stalled progress in ovarian cancer for far too long," said Audra Moran, President and CEO of Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. "Artificial intelligence has the potential to accelerate breakthroughs across the ovarian cancer continuum, from prediction to treatment selection."

SOURCE Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance