Coordinating Center for the Cohorts for Environmental Exposures and Cancer Risk Program

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While scientific and medical advances have dramatically increased our ability to prevent, detect and treat cancer, gaps remain regarding the impact of environmental exposures—particularly chemical and physical factors—on cancer risk. The overarching goal of this application is to build collaborative infrastructure and facilitate transdisciplinary scientific research for enhancing our understanding of environmental exposures influencing cancer etiology, and the genetic, behavioral, and structural factors that modify risk across diverse populations. We propose to serve as the Coordinating Center for the Cohorts for Environmental Exposures and Cancer Risk (CEECR) Program. Our mission is to provide intellectual leadership and logistical and collaborative infrastructure for the CEECR program by integrating efforts across the CEECR cohorts, facilitating research activities, identifying opportunities for cross-CEECR collaboration, and disseminating research findings through partnerships with stakeholders. We will draw upon extensive experience coordinating large-scale consortia, conducting prospective cancer epidemiology studies, and engaging with community partners to support the CEECR Program. We will facilitate cooperation across the CEECR cohorts to achieve their UG3/UH3 milestones and realize their full potential as an integrated sustained powerful source of knowledge for characterizing the impact of environmental exposures on cancer risk. Specific Aims include: 1) providing intellectual leadership and multidisciplinary scientific expertise, establishing a governance structure, and identifying opportunities to catalyze cross-cohort collaboration; 2) assisting with the identification of common data elements and the integration of research efforts regarding biological samples and innovative technologies; 3) facilitating innovative transdisciplinary research by developing evidence-based infrastructure to support collaboration, coordination, communication, outreach and engagement, and career enhancement; and 4) fostering resource sharing by CEECR members with external researchers and stakeholders—including the deposition of data in NIH repositories—to accelerate research and move findings towards translation and prevention. Our multidisciplinary team includes experts in cancer epidemiology, environmental health, team science, cancer health disparities, cancer biology, toxicology, data science, applied public health practice, outreach/community engagement, and research administration. The University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center provides the ideal environment for supporting the Coordinating Center due to its resources and established relationships with local and national research and advocacy organizations. The CEECR Coordinating Center will use multiple innovative approaches to leverage program members’ common passion for elucidating the role of environmental factors in cancer etiology, provide expanded opportunities for collaboration, and enable the CEECR Program to bring about substantive reductions in the cancer burden paying special attention to populations historically excluded from the full benefits of scientific advances.