The District of Columbia, the nation's capital, has an estimated population of 628,000. Seventy-three (73%) of all District residents are black and 22% of the Black population live below the poverty level. The age-adjusted cancer mortality rate in 1988 was estimated to be among the highest in the nation exceeding the national rate by 31% and claiming 1600 lives each year. Higher than expected cancer mortality rates usually reflect late diagnosis and/or lack of access to adequate treatment. The consortium members of the Metropolitan Washington D.C. MB CCOP have practiced in this milieu and are acutely aware of the shortcomings of cancer care delivery systems in Washington, D.C. The consortium has a full complement of board certified oncologists with access to state of the art facilities as well as new investigational modalities such as intraoperative radiotherapy, hyperthermia, and high dose rate afterloading radiation therapy equipment. The core of this MB CCOP will be the two data managers, one on loan from the Howard University Cancer Center and the second to be hired through the grant. Each data manager will receive specific training from the selected research base (SWOG, NSABP). This information as it applies to each research base, will be presented to consortium (doctors, nurses, support staff) as mini symposia at each consortium member's workplace. This will facilitate the understanding of the required documentation necessary to fulfill the requirements of the program. Each data manager will be available on a daily basis to visit each component of the MB CCOP to further facilitate data flow, protocol accession and followup. The principal investigator in conjunction with the data managers, and co-investigators will establish a quality control committee, protocol review committee and a steering committee. These committees which will report to the principal investigator will provide the administrative flow required to maintain a viable MB CCOP. An incentive program which permits $100 to the oncology nurses that identify, register, treat and follow each patient is added to induce patient accrual to the selected protocols. This MB CCOP has received the endorsement from the consortium hospital listed, the D.C. American Cancer Society, the D.C. Cancer Consortium, and the Howard University Cancer Center all of whom are acutely aware of the high cancer mortality rate in the minority populations in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.
| Sosman, Jeffrey A; Unger, Joseph M; Liu, P-Y et al. (2002) Adjuvant immunotherapy of resected, intermediate-thickness, node-negative melanoma with an allogeneic tumor vaccine: impact of HLA class I antigen expression on outcome. J Clin Oncol 20:2067-75 |
