Over the next five years, the overall goal of the main membership of the Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) in CALGB is to contribute to the reduction of cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality by accelerating the rate of clinical research. At present, our CALGB network includes 50 investigators, 3 hospitals, 2 hospital-based medical oncology practices, 8 community-based medical oncology private practices at 12 private practice offices and 2 community-based radiation therapy services. We have a presence in eight cities and towns throughout the state. The three hospitals in the CALGB network now account for over 40 percent of the state's hospital beds and over 40 percent of the state's 6167 newly diagnosed cancer patients. An additional hospital and three more investigators are being added this summer. Rhode Island offers high population density concentrated in a small geographic area (only 1045 square miles with a population of 1,003,464 and a minority population of nearly 10 percent) and is often considered a city-state. As a result, we are able to saturate the state and exercise a strong influence in cancer care and oncology clinical trials.
The specific aims of the CALGB program at RIH are; to increase the involvement of investigators in the science of the CALGB; to broaden membership to all oncology interests from Brown University; to bring pilot study results from the Brown University Oncology Group (BrUOG) to the CALGB; to enhance our contributions to surgical oncology research in the Group; to continue to increase our accrual rate to CALGB therapeutic and non-therapeutic trials; to increase our ascending minority accrual; and to maintain standards of excellence in data management. The methods include four pilot projects (a marker for colon carcinomas and adenomas, an immunoassay for early detection of colon cancer, an assay for the detection of circulating prostate cancer cells, and genetic alterations of the cell cycle), protocol leadership in four studies in Stage III NSCLC, Advanced NSCLC, Taxol Pharmacology, and Advanced Prostate Cancer, a protocol pipeline through the Brown University Oncology Group, ongoing CALGB Committee memberships, local multidisciplinary collaboration, and a strong data management structure with outreach plans to incorporate more surgical participation. From 1998 to 2003, the RIH and its adjunct Hospitals, The Miriam Hospital (TMH), the Women and Infants Hospital (WIH), and the Memorial Hospital (MH) will contribute well over 125 protocol entries to CALGB-sponsored clinical trials each year.
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