The lymphoma epidemiology of outcomes (LEO) cohort study - in 2025, an estimated 80,350 people in the US will be diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and 19,390 will DIE from this cancer

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded a Cooperative Agreement totaling $1,264,356 to Mayo Clinic on April 1, 2026, under the Cancer Cause and Prevention Research program (CFDA 93.393) to support the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes (LEO) Cohort Study through March 31, 2031.

The LEO Cohort Study is an epidemiologic research initiative that enrolls and follows non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients to address unmet health needs among the estimated 808,413 NHL survivors in the United States as of January 2024. Mayo Clinic maintains the cohort infrastructure and coordinates enrollment across multiple sites, currently comprising over 17,000 NHL participants. The study was originally established in 2002 as the Molecular Epidemiology Resource and expanded to its current national scope in 2015.

Work is performed in Rochester, Minnesota. The award passes funding through to three sub-recipients: The Washington University Office of Sponsored Research Services (awarded August 26, 2026), MD Anderson Cancer Center (awarded August 5, 2026), and Emory University Office of Sponsored Programs (awarded July 31, 2026), each delivering site-level research execution, patient recruitment, and specialized analytical or clinical support to the LEO research network.

NHL survival rates began improving in the 1990S with the advent of improved treatment strategies, leading to the current 5-year survival rate of 74%. These trends led to a growth in the number of NHL survivors, estimated at 808,413 as of january 1, 2024. To address the unmet health needs of this patient population, in 2002 we established the molecular epidemiology resource, which was expanded nationally in 2015 as lymphoma epidemiology of outcomes (LEO) cohort study. LEO enrollment is currently over 17,000 NHL participants (and >19,000 at the start of this grant), with…