Meharry Medical College Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is the second renewal of the Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (MBCCOP) of Meharry Medical College (MMC) for years 9-13. The program conducts clinical research protocols derived from NCI approved CCOP research bases including the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Program (NSABP), the Gynecology Oncology Group (GOG), the University of Texas MD Anderson Hospital (MDA), the American College of Surgery Oncology Group (ACOSOG) and the Clinical Trials Support Unit (CTSU) of the National Cancer Institute. In 2010, we added the ACOSOG as a research base to accommodate a community based surgical oncologist who has joined our MBCCO. All of these research base trials are national studies of cancer treatment and cancer prevention and control. Each of these trials has trial specific inclusion and exclusion criteria that relate to the cancer biology of the trial. MMCis a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in continuous service since 1876 whose mission is to facilitate the professional training of racial and ethnic minorities. The main clinicl care site of MMC is the Nashville General Hospital at Meharry (NGH) that predominantly cares for underserved and indigent patients with a high prevalence of racial and ethnic minorities. As a minority based CCOP, MMC draws from Davidson County Tennessee, a region that is substantially composed of minorities. In our cancer program, patients of color represent approximately 49% of all hematology/oncology patients presenting for care. Over the history of the MMMC MBCCOP, African- American patients represented 55% of trial accruals, a rate that is virtually identical to our overall patient population and indicates no bias or difficulty enterig minorities onto clinical trials. The MMC MBCCOP therefore has thus been successful to enter minority subjects in proportion to their prevalence in our medical center. It has been recently noted that Hispanic patients are; increasingly seeking care at the NGH and are beginning to be entered onto clinical trials. Women are entered onto all trials in proportion to their disease prevalence with substantially greater numbers entered onto breast cancer and GOG trials compared to men. Historically, 60% of our patients entered onto clinical trials were women which is a skewed rate based on the most active trials treating breast cancer. During the reporting period of this application, the prevalence of African-Americans evaluated entered onto clinical trials at the NGH and the percentage of women on all clinical trials for all research protocols was similar to our summary trends. In addition to the clinical trial efforts, the MBCCOP has leveraged other funds to establish a 1)Hematology/Oncology fellowship opportunity for minority physicians and 2) a peer-reviewed funded research effort in cancer issues of the underserved that includes national presentations and a recently awarded P20 project studying post-treatment "survivorship" of the underserved.