National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Disparities Research Partnership Program: Experience and Lessons Learned

Abstract

Purpose: To increase access of underserved/health disparities communities to National Cancer Institute (NCI) clinical trials, the Radiation Research Program piloted a unique model – the Cancer Disparities Research Partnership (CDRP) program. CDRP targeted community hospitals with a limited past NCI funding history and provided funding to establish the infrastructure for their clinical research program.Methods: Initially, 5-year planning phase funding was awarded to six CDRP institutions through a cooperative agreement (U56). Five were subsequently eligible to compete for 5-year implementation phase (U54) funding and three received a second award. Additionally, the NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities supported their U56 patient navigation programs.Results: Community-based hospitals with little or no clinical trials experience required at least a year to develop the infrastructure and establish community outreach/education and patient navigation programs before accrual to clinical trials could begin. Once established, CDRP sites increased their yearly patient accrual mainly to NCI-sponsored cooperative group trials (~60%) and Principal Investigator/mentor-initiated trials (~30%). The total number of patients accrued on all types of trials was 2,371, while 5,147 patients received navigation services.Conclusion: Despite a historical gap in participation in clinical cancer research, underserved communities are willing/eager to participate. Since a limited number of cooperative group trials address locally advanced diseases seen in health disparities populations; this shortcoming needs to be rectified. Sustainability for these programs remains a challenge. Addressing these gaps through research and public health mechanisms may have an important impact on their health, scientific progress, and efforts to increase diversity in NCI clinical trials.

Institutional Alliances to Reduce Cancer Disparities in Chicago

“…These include adhering to academic calendars, 37 departure of faculty, 39 geographic distance between institutions, 37 and the persistent effort and the extent of working relationships required to achieve success. 39 Program sustainability, including sustaining infrastructure and staff to become competitive for major infrastructure and center grants is another challenge.…”

“…These include adhering to academic calendars, 37 departure of faculty, 39 geographic distance between institutions, 37 and the persistent effort and the extent of working relationships required to achieve success. 39 Program sustainability, including sustaining infrastructure and staff to become competitive for major infrastructure and center grants is another challenge. 40 Published lessons learned from similar partnerships have included communication approaches, 37,41 respect for each institution’s mission; 37 mentoring strategies; 37 support from organizational leaders; 37 and different metrics for evaluating partnership success.…”

The International Cancer Expert Corps: A Unique Approach for Sustainable Cancer Care in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries

“…ICEC recognizes the importance of establishing metrics to assess programs and progress in order to justify ongoing investment ( 40 ). ICEC will build on the strong research culture in cancer care and on the proven outreach experience of the ICEC Hubs, the Cancer Disparities Research Partnership program from the National Cancer Institute ( 14 ), experience from the International Network of Cancer Treatment and Research ( 12 ), and collaboration with the NCI Center for Global Health ( 8 , 43 ).…”

“…The development of the model for ICEC is the result of decades of experience of a number of the authors from working in the underserved communities in the U.S. and globally. Examples include the PACT ( 7 ) and INCTR ( 12 ) programs mentioned above, the Harvard community outreach program in Massachusetts ( 13 ), the Cancer Disparities Research Partnership Program of the National Cancer Institute ( 14 ), the Walking Forward Program in South Dakota ( 15 ), experience in breast cancer care in Bangladesh ( 16 ), and the establishment of King Hussein Cancer Center Program as a major cancer program through shared expertise between Jordan and the NCI ( 17 ). The recent emphasis on non-communicable disease burden in global health ( 1 , 2 ) led to recognition of the need for innovative approaches to healthcare.…”

The pervasive crisis of diminishing radiation therapy access for vulnerable populations in the United States, part 2: American Indian patients

“…In 2002, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) created the Cancer Disparity Research Partnership (CDRP) program for community cancer centers that worked with these vulnerable populations. 12 Patient navigation was part of the CDRP program as a potential strategy to mitigate the aforementioned disparities. Walking Forward was the only CDRP site of the original 6 that was created to address AIs.…”