Community-based program to focus on cancer care research and delivery

Metro Detroit area residents with cancer, and those throughout Michigan, will have access to federally-funded cancer research studies thanks to a five-year grant recently awarded to the Beaumont Cancer Institute. Beaumont Health System is one of 34 community sites participating in the National Cancer Institute's Community Oncology Research Program, also known as NCORP.

"We're honored to be named one of the recipients of the National Cancer Institute's grant," explains John Robertson, M.D., principal investigator for NCORP. "This new program got underway Aug. 1 and its overall goal is to bring cancer clinical trials, as well as cancer care delivery research to individuals in their own communities to improve patient outcomes and reductions in cancer disparities. We've got years of experience doing just that in Southeast Michigan."

NCORP replaces two previous National Cancer Institute community-based clinical research programs: the NCI Community Clinical Oncology Program, also referred to as CCOP and the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program. Beaumont's Cancer Institute was a long-time participant in CCOP until the program was discontinued on May 31. The new program, with its $93 million a year in funding, builds on the strengths of the previous programs and aims to better address the most pressing issues affecting the conduct and delivery of care in the communities across the nation.

Beaumont will receive $757,511 per year for five years. The NCI-funded cancer research programs will take place at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak and Beaumont Hospital, Troy.

The new program is a national network of investigators, cancer care providers, academic institutions and other organizations conducting cancer research. NCORP community-based research examines strategies to:

• Reduce cancer risk and incidence
• Improve cancer care outcomes
• Expand access to cancer care
• Increase quality and value of care
• Reduce cancer disparities

According to Worta McCaskill-Stevens, M.D., director of NCORP, the creation of NCORP allows the National Cancer Institute to take advantage of recent advances in the understanding of cancer and bring this new knowledge into clinical trials conducted in the community, where most patients receive their care.