The Southeast Cancer Control Consortium, Inc., (SCCC) is a Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) funded for the past 12 years by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The SCCC is a consortium of 15 communities and 16 institutions in a five-state area of the southeast United States. The SCCC's long term objective is to bring state of the art clinical trials and prevention programs for cancer to an arena of small community institutions, to increase access to NCI approved cancer programs. The catchment of the referral communities is estimated at 8.5 million, with demographics reflecting a low population density, limited socioeconomic and educational development, and an African American to white population approximately twice the national average. This provides an opportunity to increase minority access to research studies. There are 104 physicians (medical oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, and urologists) participating in the SCCC. Each institution has a physician designated as the """"""""Community Leader,"""""""" responsible for locally coordinating participation in the SCCC program. Each Community Leader has a support team of personnel [oncology nurses and clinical research associates (CRAs)] who are trained, by the SCCC Operations Office staff, in proper procedures for compliance to federal and research base regulations. The community support teams' efforts are coordinated and monitored by the Community Leaders' counterpart, an oncology nurse or CRA, who is the local """"""""Study Coordinator."""""""" The SCCC Operations Office coordinates the consortium's activities by providing a telephone and e-mail information service line for members' questions, monitoring Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals, facilitating protocol participation via weekly mailings, conducting on-site visits, providing data management training and continuing education programs, preparing grant applications and reports, and coordinating research base audits. The SCCC Operations Office provides the communities with research studies, for both cancer treatment and prevention, from five national cooperative group research bases approved by NCI. Plans are in progress for adding a sixth research base. Each community then has these studies reviewed by their local IRB, all of which are approved by the Office for Protection from Research Risks (OPRR). The Community Leaders and Study Coordinators then educate local members and facilitate implementation of these studies within the community. Through the expansive consortium network, we are confident that our program will significantly improve the quality of and access to NCI approved state of the art cancer care and prevention studies in the community setting. We will be able to reduce the morbidity and mortality of cancer by overcoming ethnic, minority, and socioeconomic barriers.
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