The goal of this application is to convene for the first time a congress of cancer surveillance experts from around the world at a joint conference of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) and the International Association of Central Cancer Registries (IACR). NAACCR has hosted the most influential and informative annual scientific conference for cancer surveillance scientists in North America since 1987. The NAACCR Annual Conference is attended by approximately 400 cancer registry professionals from across North America drawing from all population-based central cancer registries, cancer surveillance organizations and universities. It is the largest meeting of its kid for state-based cancer registries to participate in the advancement of cancer surveillance science, learn new techniques, exchange information, and develop efficient and cost-effective work practices. Meanwhile IACR has hosted 34 annual meetings in the international arena, to discuss issues related to cancer surveillance worldwide. We plan to bring this group together for the first time to spark international collaboration, creative problem solving, a forum for the exchange of scientific ideas, and ultimately to improve cancer surveillance worldwide by developing plans to make the data more comparable, useful, and informative. The objective of this conference grant is to: Convene a conference for scientific world leaders to demonstrate advances in research and methods in cancer surveillance and discuss methods to improve comparability and utility of data globally. This conference is relevant to the NCI mission by providing training in cancer surveillance and supporting cancer control through accurate data. Cancer surveillance data (i.e. SEER data) forms the backbone of countless cancer research studies each year. The methods used will be the planning and implementation of a world-class scientific conference, with workshops, break-out sessions, panel discussions keynotes, plenaries, and posters. Opportunities for class room learning, lecture, sharing of scientific results, debate and networking will play an important role in achieving the objective. In addition, we plan to encourage attendance at both meetings by subsidizing registration for delegates from under- resourced countries. This conference provides an excellent opportunity for participation by groups that are often underrepresented in science, namely women and minority groups. Women make up the majority of delegates at NAACCR and IACR meetings and representation comes from every state and province in North America, and hundreds of countries.
Cancer surveillance is the science of reporting and monitoring cancer rates and trends over time and in different populations using data from population-based cancer registries (PBCR). The NCI Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program has been the gold standard in cancer surveillance since its inception in the early 1970s and has provided the foundation for the Cancer Statistics Review(1) publications for decades. In the 1980s the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) was formed to ensure standardization and comparability of cancer data across North America, especially with the formation of the CDC's National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR). NAACCR compiles data annually for all of North America (2) Internationally, data are compiled by the International Association of Cancer Registries for such publications as Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (3), with Volume X marking 50 years of data from around the world. Cancer surveillance data are an essential tool for researchers throughout the world to assess cancer in the population, as opposed to the clinical setting. Cancer surveillance data provide the foundation for research in epidemiology, population science, cancer control evaluation, cancer survival, comparative effectiveness and clinical care. Cancer surveillance data is the primary evaluation tool for monitoring progress against the burden of cancer and forms the basis for the Annual Report to the Nation (4-18), a series of widely cited publications. For the first time, NAACCR and IACR will co-sponsor an unprecedented opportunity, bringing together the world leaders in cancer surveillance for a week-long opportunity of education, presentation of scientific research findings, improvement of data comparability and aggregation, and mentoring of young investigators. In addition, we hope to subsidize registration to the NAACCR portion of the conference for delegates from low-resource countries in order to provide them with an exceptional learning opportunity that would not otherwise be available to them. NAACCR has hosted the most influential and informative annual scientific conference for cancer surveillance scientists since 1987. The NAACCR Annual Conference is attended by approximately 400 cancer registry professionals from across North America drawing from all population-based central cancer registries, cancer surveillance organizations and universities. It is the largest meeting of its kind for state-based cancer registries to participate in the advancement of cancer surveillance science, learn new techniques, exchange information, and develop efficient and cost-effective work practices. The Conference is developed by and for cancer surveillance professionals to learn about the latest trends, acquire new skills, share research findings, improve public health, and support a variety of cancer research endeavors. Please note, that since this conference is solely focused on cancer, we have not sought co- sponsors from other NIH centers.
