Since the launch of EIF’s National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance in March 2000, the program has made a tremendous impact in advancing colorectal cancer research and increasing public awareness of our nation’s second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Nearly 20 percent more colonoscopies were performed after NCCRA cofounder Katie Couric’s live-on-the-air procedure appeared on NBC’s “TODAY” three years ago to promote colorectal cancer screening. Dubbing it the “Couric Effect,” University of Michigan researchers called the impact profound.