Background: PCORI funds comparative effectiveness research (CER) which aims to produce evidence-based information to help people make informed health care decisions and improve outcomes that matter to patients. Cancer studies form one of the largest disease-specific PCORI-funded portfolios. Methods: We conducted a systematic analysis of PCORI’s cancer portfolio overall and of the subset of studies that focus on post-treatment survivorship. Results: As of June 2015, PCORI has funded 47 cancer projects totaling $125 million. Cancer studies account for 17% of PCORI’s dollar investment in CER research. These studies have focused on breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, cervical, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers as well as leukemia. A majority of PCORI-funded cancer studies are randomized trials (60% of studies, 72% of dollar investment). One-in-four studies address post-treatment survivorship (n = 12, $23 million). The 12 CER studies on post-treatment survivorship address a range of patient-centered issues. Four studies are evaluating different post-treatment surveillance approaches for breast (2 studies), colorectal, and lung cancer survivors respectively. Three studies are focusing on optimizing the care planning process for cancer survivors while another is evaluating the impact of an oncology medical home model on patient-centered outcomes. Four studies are addressing quality of life (QOL) issues, one is evaluating approaches for incorporating patient reported outcomes data in the clinical encounter, a second is evaluating a multi-component intervention to improve the QOL of cancer survivors, a third study is evaluating the comparative effectiveness of complementary therapies to treat symptoms, and another is addressing distress among caregivers of stem cell transplant survivors. Conclusions: PCORI-funded CER studies are rigorously evaluating the real world impact of a range of interventions aimed at optimizing the quality of care delivered to and outcomes experienced by cancer survivors. Our analysis of the cancer portfolio will inform future funding priorities aimed at improving patient-centered outcomes for cancer survivors.