University of New Mexico Cancer Center Support

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Located in a region of rich multicultural and multiethnic diversity, tremendous scientific and technological capability, and challenging health and socioeconomic disparity, The University of New Mexico Cancer Research and Treatment Center (UNM CRTC) is uniquely poised to make significant contributions to the Nation's mission to reduce cancer incidence and eliminate death and suffering from cancer. The special characteristics of the UNM CRTC are the multiethnic populations that it serves with their strikingly different patterns of cancer incidence and mortality, the integration of regional scientific and technologic strengths into its Research Programs, and the extensive networks and partnerships that it has developed for participatory community-based research. Funded by a NCI P20 Cancer Center Planning Grant since 9/1/2000, the Center has made tremendous progress. With significant institutional, State, and community support, the CRTC has hired 36 new cancer specialists and scientists; doubled its annual NCI ($9,730,273 in direct costs + $2,004,977 in direct costs to the UNM NCI SEER program) and total peer-reviewed cancer funding ($25,257,828 in direct and $35,517,100 in total costs); formalized consortium arrangements with the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) and partnerships with Sandia National Laboratory; doubled the number of newly diagnosed patients treated at the CRTC; significantly increased patient participation in clinical trials (35% of all patients were accrued to intervention studies, 13% to therapeutic studies); and maintained very high rates of care to underserved and minority patients (in a State where 33% of cancer cases occur in ethnic minorities, 52% of the patients treated at the UNM CRTC were minorities; minority accrual to all types of cancer protocols was 52% and 38% to therapeutic studies). The 91 Members of the UNM CRTC are clustered into 4 Research Programs: Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Cancer Biology, Hematologic Malignancies, and Women's Cancers that are focused on the following overall goals: 1. To conduct outstanding multidisciplinary and trandisciplinary cancer research in our laboratories, clinics, and communities that builds on unique institutional and regional scientific strengths and collaborative research partnerships with the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute and New Mexico's National Laboratories. 2. To reduce cancer incidence and mortality by discovering the genetic, environmental, social, and behavioral factors that contribute to the distinct cancer patterns in the multiethnic populations of New Mexico. 3. To reduce cancer health disparities in the historically underserved populations of the Southwest through collaborative community networks with the State Department of Health; New Mexico Pueblos, Tribes, and American Indian Nations; the Indian Health Service; and local communities by developing culturally appropriate cancer education, screening, and prevention programs. 4. To provide outstanding cancer treatment for all New Mexicans, by improving access to quality cancer care and innovative therapies through increased referrals and formal affiliations with community cancer care providers. 5. To increase access to and participation of New Mexicans in cancer clinical investigations and cancer therapeutic and prevention clinical trials, facilitated by a joint UNM-community collaborative clinical trials network (The New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance).