GWCI awarded $2.1M cooperative agreement to support Comprehensive Cancer Control programs

The George Washington University Cancer Institute (GWCI) has been awarded a $2.1 million cooperative agreement to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to design and implement a comprehensive technical assistance plan to support CDC-funded Comprehensive Cancer Control (CCC) programs. These programs are in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., seven tribes, and seven territories across the country.

GWCI, housed within the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, will leverage its existing infrastructure, capacity, and relationships to provide technical assistance to CCC programs to help reduce the burden of cancer with a focus on local implementation of CCC activities, systems and environmental changes, sustainable partnerships, and communication strategies. Over the next five years, GWCI activities will include:

- Leveraging the GWCI's existing Online Academy to develop and implement multiple online trainings to expand public health skills and address CCC priority areas;

- Creating resource guides to help public health practitioners more easily translate existing evidence into practice;

- Connecting CCC practitioners with experts, including researchers and CCC peers, and facilitating the sharing of evidence-based interventions and promising practices;

- Convening stakeholders to identify opportunities for integrating cancer prevention with other chronic disease prevention efforts;

- Providing large-group, small-group, and one-on-one technical assistance for CCC grantees and coalitions;

- And creating easier ways to align local initiatives with national health priority indicators.

"The GW Cancer Institute is pleased to support Comprehensive Cancer Control programs through this award. Working with the CDC, we will prioritize training needs and support implementation of proven strategies to reduce the burden of cancer in this country," said Mandi Pratt-Chapman, M.A., associate director of GWCI and principal investigator for the award. "We are also pleased to be working with the National Area Health Education Center and their local affiliates to broadly integrate cancer prevention with other chronic disease prevention activities."

Partnering with the National Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Organization will help GWCI find ways to creatively adapt evidence-based initiatives to meet local and regional health care needs. This will be accomplished by holding community health roundtables at AHECs across the nation.

"The National AHEC Organization is thrilled to work with the George Washington University Cancer Institute over the next five years to catalyze evidence-based chronic disease prevention activities and systems change at the community level through AHEC affiliates across the country," said Robert M. Trachtenberg, M.S., executive director at the National AHEC Organization.