Southeast Cancer Control Consortium, Inc

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Southeast Cancer Control Consortium, Inc. (SCCC) is a Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) funded for the past 17 years by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The SCCC is a consortium of 18 components/communities and 22 institutions in a five-state area of the southeast United States. The SCCC's long-term objective is to bring state-of-the-art clinical trails and prevention programs for cancer to an arena of small community institutions to increase access to NCI approved cancer programs. The catchment of the referral communities is estimated at 9.7 million, with demographics reflecting a low population density, limited socioeconomic and educational development, female percentage greater than 50 percent, and an African American to white population approximately twice the national average. This provides an opportunity to increase minority access and maintain inclusion of women to research studies. There are 121 physicians (medical oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, and urologists) participating in the SCCC. Each institution has a physician designated as the "Community Leader", responsible for locally coordinating participation in the SCCC program. Each Community Leader has a support team of personnel {oncology nurses and clinical research associates/CRAs) who are trained by the SCCC Operations Office staff, in proper procedures for compliance to federal and research base regulations. The community support teams' efforts are coordinated and monitored by the Community Leaders' counterpart, an oncology nurse or CRA, who is the local "Study Coordinator." The SCCC Operations Office coordinates the consortium's activities by providing a telephone and email information service line for members' questions, fax machine communication, monitoring Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals, facilitating protocol participation via weekly mailings and monthly protocol mailings, conducting on-site visits, providing data management training and continuing education programs, preparing grant applications and reports, and coordinating research base audits. The SCCC Operations Office provides the communities with research base studies, for both cancer treatment and prevention, from the eight CCOP research bases approved by NCI. Each community has these studies reviewed by their local IRB, all of which are approved by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). The Community Leaders and Study Coordinators educate local members and facilitate implementation of these studies within the communities. Through the expansive consortium network, there is confidence that the SCCC program will significantly improve the quality of and access to NCI-approved state-of-the-art cancer care and prevention studies in the community setting. The goal is to be able to reduce the morbidity and mortality of cancer by overcoming ethnic, minority, gender, and socioeconomic barriers.