The Clinical Research Program of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University(CCCWFU) is organized around three themes: Therapeutic Modulation, Bioanatomic Imaging, and SymptomManagement. Therapeutic Modulation focuses on novel local, regional, and systemic treatments for cancer,a number of which have translated from laboratory research discoveries by Cancer Center basic scientistsinto the clinic. Bioanatomic Imaging is based on the use of anatomic, biologic, physiologic, and functionalimaging of cancer and normal tissues for brain, breast, and prostate cancer as well as other solid tumors.Symptom Management studies utilize pharmacologic interventions to reduce the morbidity of cancer and itstreatments with an emphasis on novel chemotherapeutic agents, targeted therapies, and botanical andnatural compounds.The Clinical Research Program currently has 34 multidisciplinary members, from 17 Departments andSections. Twenty-three Program members (68%) have NIH/NCI or equivalent funding. There has been areduction in the number of Program members since 2001 as membership criteria have tightened. However,Program funding (direct costs) has more than tripled, from $1.53M to $5.59M. Program members published386 articles of which 12.7% were inter-programmatic and 21.5% were intra-programmatic.The Cancer Center as a whole enters >1700 patients per year onto CCCWFU, Cooperative Group, andindustry intervention and observational clinical trials; 92% of these are entered by CCCWFU investigatorsand 8% by CCCWFU affiliates, primarily through the CCCWFU Community Clinical Oncology Program(CCOP) Research Base. The Research Base, one of only six cancer center research bases in the U.S., hasgrown to include 12 CCOPs and 5 non-CCOPs in 19 states across the U.S., resulting in a network of 92community cancer centers and 3 academic medical centers (East Carolina University, Louisiana StateUniversity, and Wake Forest) performing CCCWFU investigator-initiated clinical trials. Accrual onto allCCCWFU Phase I, II, and III intervention trials has more than doubled since 2001 to about 600 per year atpresent.Institutional investment for clinical oncology and clinical imaging research to support the ClinicalResearch Program has been outstanding, with >$20 million spent on imaging equipment for the Center forBiomolecular Imaging, and >$75 million on a new multidisciplinary outpatient cancer center, which opened inMay 2004.Areas of future multidisciplinary and/or interprogrammatic investigations within current clinical researchthemes include: 1) Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering in oncology; 2) Nanotechnology andmolecular materials in oncology; and 3) Canine models of malignant gliomas (with the Virginia Tech Schoolof Veterinary Medicine Center of Comparative Oncology).
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