Cross-Cutting Initiatives
On this page:
- Trends in Cancer
- Cancer Biology and Genetics
- Patient-Oriented Research
- Addressing Health Disparities
- Cancer Information and Education
Trends in Cancer
Accurate information on the incidence and impact of the disease is critical to decision making in science and public health. For this reason, NCI has established a number of programs and initiatives to provide infrastructure, track trends, and report cancer statistics. In the 1990s, NCI's surveillance efforts were expanded to cover a broader spectrum of the racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity of our country. These include:
- The Surveillance Research Program
- Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program
- Atlas of Cancer Mortality in the United States, 1950-94
- Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET)
Cancer Biology and Genetics
Basic research studies exploring the science of how cancer develops form the foundation of cancer research. Identifying, at the molecular and cellular level, the fundamental processes that underlie a cell's normal development and transformation from normal to premalignant to malignant can lead to new prevention, detection, and treatment approaches. NCI has established a number of initiatives to provide infrastructure and stimulate interdisciplinary research in order to make progress. These include:
- Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) (including 9 in breast cancer and 4 in ovarian cancer)
- The Cancer Genetics Network (CGN)
- The Cancer Family Registries (CFRs)
- Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP)
- Early Detection Research Network
- Director's Challenge: Toward a Molecular Classification of Tumors
- Clinical Proteomics Program
- Tissue Array Resource Program (TARP)
- Mouse Models of Human Cancer Consortium (MMHCC)
- Specimen Resource Locator
Patient-Oriented Research
Clinical Research
Clinical trials to evaluate improved and novel prevention, detection, and treatment strategies are carried out within the National Clinical Trials Program in Treatment and Prevention infrastructure that includes NCI Cancer Centers, Cooperative Groups, SPOREs, the CCOP and minority based CCOPs. In addition to supporting clinical trials, NCI supports a broad range of clinical research to develop new agents and novel approaches for the prevention, early detection, and treatment of cancer. Programs and initiatives that support clinical research include:
- Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP)
- Cancer Trials Support Unit (CTSU)
- Program for the Assessment of Clinical Cancer Test (PACCT)
- Physician Data Query database
- The Biomedical Imaging Program (BIP)
- In vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC)
- Rapid Access to Intervention Development (RAID)
- Rapid Access to NCI Discovery Resources (RAND)
- Rapid Access to Prevention Intervention Development (RAPID)
Cancer Control and Outcomes
NCI supports patient oriented research that includes intervention, nutrition, chemoprevention, biobehavioral influences on disease, cancer screening, pain and symptom management, quality of life, ethics, confidentiality, and understanding health disparities. A number of initiatives address ways to improve the quality of cancer care and include:
- The Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS), (lung and colorectal cancer)
- The HMO Cancer Research Network
- The Patterns of Care/Quality of Care initiative
- SEER-Medicare Linked Database
Addressing Health Disparities
NCI has identified cancer health disparities as an area of public health emphasis in The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research: A Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2004. Disparities are widespread and decentralized, encompassed by the broad scope of research supported by NCI. The challenges are to understand what causes disparity, develop potent interventions, and implement them.
In 2000, NCI established the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities to function as an organizational locus for the critical tasks needed to translate discovery into delivery. NCI supports a number of partnerships, collaborations, initiatives, and programs that focus on reducing cancer health disparities. For example, Partnerships between NCI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration, and other federal and non-federal agencies are working together to develop and improve interventions to increase screening and follow-up for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers in underserved and historically underscreened women. Other activities include:
- The Special Populations Network
- Center for Population Health and Health Disparities
- The Cooperative Planning Grant for Cancer Disparities Research Partnerships
- The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS)
- Network for Cancer Control Research among Native American/Alaska Native Populations
Cancer Information and Education
NCI provides information about women's health to cancer patients, health and research professionals, and the public in a variety of formats. The most recent, complete, and reliable information is available to assist cancer patients, their families, and their health care providers in making decisions about cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and follow-up care through NCI's website, cancer.gov. This site features LiveHelp, a web-based instant messaging service.
NCI's website links to a gateway to information and education about ongoing research programs and activities through NCI's Cancer Information Service (CIS). Printed publications and audiovisual material are available for a range of cultural and literacy levels and can be accessed directly via the web or toll-free number, 800-4-CANCER. Through its Partnership Program, the CIS provides technical assistance and materials to aid local, regional, and state partner organizations to reach and educate minority and medically underserved women with limited access to health and cancer information. In 2002, the CIS, partnering with local organizations, completed four "digital divide" projects, whose goal was to increase information technology use for cancer information among underserved population.
NCI disseminates information through press releases and television, supplemented with in-depth background information through the BenchMarks website. 2002 BenchMarks issues featured the results of the Women's Health Initiative study on postmenopausal hormone use, August 2002; and cervical cancer screening, April 2002.
NCI's Office of Education and Special Initiatives (OESI) has developed the Clinical Trials Education Series, a group of mixed media about participating in cancer clinical trials. The series includes workbooks, booklets, brochures, videos, slide programs, and a web-based course. The OESI has also developed the Facing Forward Survivor Series, publications about the issues that survivors face after treatment. This series includes Spanish language adaptations.
The Cancer Progress Report 2001 is the first in a new series of NCI reports to describe the Nation's research progress against cancer through research and related efforts. The report is based on the most recent data from NCI, the CDC, other federal agencies, professional groups, and cancer researchers. The Report was designed to help policymakers review past efforts and plan future ones; to help the public better understand the nature and results of strategies to fight cancer; and to inform researchers, clinicians, and public health providers of the research gaps and opportunities that will pave the way for future progress.
