Game-changing moments from 2025
A year of hope and progress in ovarian cancer research.
The festive season is a time to reflect on the moments that matter most. As we look back on the year, we're filled with gratitude for people like you.
Whether you've been affected by ovarian cancer yourself, supported someone you love, or stood alongside our community, you've helped drive life-changing progress towards earlier diagnosis, better treatments and, one day, a world where no one dies from ovarian cancer.
Accelerating the world's first ovarian cancer vaccine
We're thrilled to share that OvarianVax, the world-first ovarian cancer prevention vaccine, has taken another huge step forward this year. In August, we awarded a new grant to Professor Ahmed Ahmed and his team at the University of Oxford.
This builds on over a decade of research we've funded into Professor Ahmed's work, and on the earlier funding secured from Cancer Research UK to identify the vaccine's targets. With this next phase, the team will design and test vaccine candidates and build a delivery system to carry the vaccine directly to the immune system, working towards the ultimate goal of clinical trials.
As ever, patient voices remain central to this work. Patient and public involvement is built into every stage of this programme, making sure the people this vaccine could one day protect continue to shape how it's developed.
Walk in her Name 2025
The power of community – Walk in Her Name
It was another incredible year for our flagship event, with thousands of people coming together in memory or in celebration of the women who inspire them, or in honour of their own cancer journey. Some walked the 100km alone, others with family or friends.
However they took on the challenge, together they raised over £200,000.
Among the walkers was Josephine, who found support and comfort from the experience. She told us:
"Walking in the name of those we love is always going to be a wonderful thing to do, and I, for one, have been so inspired to keep on doing my walks, so thank you for all the support we've given each other."
Feeling inspired? Whether you'd like to take on Walk in Her Name, run a marathon, organise a fundraiser or create your own challenge, there are plenty of ways to get involved. Explore our fundraising challenges and find the one that's right for you.
Our Symptons Checker launched in September for Gynae Cancer Awareness Month
Helping people spot the signs, sooner
Ovarian cancer symptoms are so often vague, easy to dismiss, or mistaken for something else entirely. That's why this year we created our free Ovarian Cancer Symptoms Checker – an online tool that helps people reflect on what they're experiencing and understand whether it's time to speak to a GP.
The checker asks a few simple questions about symptoms, how often they occur, and how long they've been present, before offering clear guidance on next steps – including what to raise at a GP appointment. It won't diagnose ovarian cancer, but it can help someone take that first, crucial step sooner.
Training the next generation of surgical experts
To tackle the postcode lottery head on, this year we launched a new Surgical Expertise Programme. Dr Katie Baxter, our first-ever Surgical Expertise fellow, completed her training under Professor Christina Fotopoulou at Hammersmith Hospital and is now back home in Manchester, putting her newly honed expertise to work for women in her own community.
Following in her footsteps, Dr Alistair Ward became our second Surgical Expertise trainee, joining us from Portsmouth. Wherever a woman lives, she deserves the very best chance of survival – and it's fellowships like these that help make that a reality, one surgeon at a time.
A new global alliance to tackle ovarian cancer with AI
This year, we helped launch something genuinely new: the Global Ovarian Cancer Research Consortium, uniting four of the world's leading ovarian cancer charities – Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (USA), Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (Australia), Ovarian Cancer Canada, and Ovarian Cancer Action (UK).
Born out of conversations at our HHMT International Forum in October 2024, the Consortium has launched its first-ever AI Accelerator Grant – a $1 million global research award, with a further $1 million in computing support from Microsoft's AI for Good Lab. The grant will fund an international team using artificial intelligence to help predict survival and treatment response in ovarian cancer, drawing on one of the largest collections of ovarian cancer data ever assembled.
It's early days, but the ambition is enormous: to bring together the best minds across four countries and finally start moving the needle on survival rates that have stood still for far too long.
A brighter future, because of you
Every breakthrough starts with people who refuse to accept things as they are. People who fund research, raise awareness, share their stories and stand alongside everyone affected by ovarian cancer.
Because of your support, we're ending this year with real momentum and hope. Together, we're driving the discoveries that will lead to earlier diagnosis, better treatments and, one day, a future where no woman dies from ovarian cancer.
Thank you for being part of this community. We can't wait to see what we'll achieve together in the year ahead.