Ozark Health Ventures LLC dba Cancer Research for the Ozarks (CRO)

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1 Ozark Health Ventures, LLC d/b/a Cancer Research for the Ozarks (CRO) is submitting 2 this grant application as it desires to continue to be involved with the cooperative efforts 3 of the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) to focus on the broader 4 needs of cancer prevention and treatment, cancer care delivery, imaging studies and 5 cancer disparities. 6 Cancer Research for the Ozarks has a long and mutually beneficial history with the NCI 7 for over 31 years of offering clinical trial access to rural communities within the central 8 United States. Since its inception, CRO has grown from southwest Missouri, to 9 increasing its network to 15 component sites that incorporate 42 counties in five states 10 with a predominately rural population of more than 4,300,000. CRO would be the 11 primary access for NCI-sponsored and NTCN network trials for the vast majority of these 12 patients. The population in CRO’s catchment area is generally Caucasian, and slightly 13 older and poorer than national averages. CRO has been a significant contributor to 14 enrollments in protocols involving cancer prevention and treatment, cancer care delivery, 15 imaging studies, and cancer disparities. CRO has also had numerous registrations to 16 cancer care delivery and tissue procurement protocols. CRO routinely meets the NCI 17 criteria for enrollments and for the number of CCDR protocols it has open. CRO has a 18 plan for further expansion of components and investigators to secure even higher 19 enrollments. CRO participates with the following research bases: Alliance: member since 20 June, 2012; NRG: member since their merger in 2014 and the preceding legacy groups; 21 SWOG: member since its inception in 1987; Wake Forest: member since their inception 22 in 2014 and participated in protocols with the preceding Cancer Center; ECOG-ACRIN: 23 member since 2014 and the preceding legacy groups. In addition, CRO has been 24 involved in the Children’s Oncology Group at Mercy St. Louis since June 2011. The 25 major collective strengths of the CRO application would be the tremendous support and 26 commitment of the two primary components, the broad network of component sites, the 27 quality, integrity and experience of CRO’s leadership and the program, and the many 28 investigators and collaborators that it supports. 29