UCLA team receives grant to establish new clinical cancer research center for veterans

Dr. Matthew Rettig and his research team have been awarded a Clinical Cancer Research Center grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a new clinical cancer research center that will expand access to precision oncology clinical trials and patient care for veterans across the Southwest United States.

The new center will serve as the central research "hub" for all seven VA medical centers in the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) region, supporting lung and genitourinary (GU) cancers, which are leading causes of death not only in veterans, but in men more broadly.

Current access to precision oncology across the region varies widely, and many veterans are diagnosed at later stages when treatment options are more limited. The grant is designed to close these gaps by funding the infrastructure needed for clinical trials, research coordination and high-quality data collection across all partner sites.

I was ecstatic to learn that we were selected for funding. This funding will go a long way to further grow our clinical trials program for not only our VA but all VA medical centers in our network."

Dr. Matthew Rettig, medical director of the prostate cancer program at UCLA, chief of hematology/oncology at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System (GLA-VA) and investigator at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

The research initiative will leverage one of the largest veteran health data resources in the country. This includes a tissue and data biorepository containing information from 11.2 million veterans dating back to 1999, which can be linked to major datasets such as the VA Million Veterans Program. These resources will allow researchers to study biomarkers for lung and GU cancers, identify factors that drive cancer progression and better understand the impact of environmental and military exposures on cancer risk.

The new center will also create an ideal environment for junior faculty and trainees pursuing careers in clinical trials and outcomes research, noted Rettig. 

"This is a highly rewarding population of patients to serve," he said. "Veterans have sacrificed so much for our country, and they deserve the very best care that we can possibly offer."