Rapid, seamless data exchange in cancer throughout the continuum from research to clinical care remains an unmet need with no clear path forward to a solution. We assert that there is a national urgency to find solutions to support and sustain the cancer informatics ecosystem (IOM, 2012c), and propose addressing this challenge through a coalition of diverse, interested stakeholders working in a precompetitive collaboration to achieve data liquidity. Such a coalition could work toward the goal of personalized cancer medicine, addressing the challenges in manageable, incremental steps.