The American Health Foundation Cancer Center (AHFCC) is a unique research center that is dedicated entirely to cancer prevention and control. The primary goal of the AHFCC, to reduce the incidence, morbidity and mortality of cancer, relies on a highly interdisciplinary approach in which research areas are targeted by epidemiologic findings, studied in depth using biological and molecular approaches, and appropriate cancer control activities implemented. The AHFCC's research focuses upon prevention of the major human cancers known to be related to life-styles: i.e., lung, oral cavity, esophagus, cervix, and pancreas; and those affected by nutrition: i.e., breast, prostate, stomach, colon. The AHFCC is, at present, the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center principally dedicated to understanding both the biology of cancer prevention and the behavioral aspects required for cancer control. Thus, the AHFCC provides a unique environment that for 27 years has pursued research that supports the strategy recently promulgated by the NCI Cancer Prevention Review Group as being critical to reducing the grams: 1) Tobacco and Environmental Carcinogenesis, 2) Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis. 3) Chemoprevention and Nutritional Carcinogenesis, 4) Cancer Susceptibility, and two developing programs in Translational Research Studies and Population Based Cancer Control. These programs are presently supported by eight Shared Resources: Analytical Chemistry Facility, Biosafety and Biohazard Facility, Biostatistics and Data Management Facility, Molecular Pathology and Bioinformatics Facility, Organic Synthesis Facility, Research Animal Facility, and Scientific Information and Editorial Facility. A top priority at the AHFCC is to encourage research that is both interdisciplinary and innovative and that has the potential for developing translational research initiatives and peer-reviewed funding. The continual development and expansion of Research Programs and Shared Resources, along with the recruitment of new faculty, have all contributed to helping the Cancer Center maintain its standard of excellence in the field of cancer prevention. The Cancer Center and its members have at present $16 million in grant funding annually (total costs) of which $15.5 million is peer-reviewed. In this renewal application of its Cancer Center Support Grant, the AHFCC requests continuing support for five years in order to expand its unique interdisciplinary approach to cancer prevention and exploit a number of important research leads that will further our understanding of the biological mechanisms of, and the development of new approaches to, cancer control.
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