? The Heartland Research Consortium (Heartland) was developed to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality by accelerating the transfer of newly developed cancer prevention and cancer treatment interventions to the populace of St. Louis County and contiguous, medically under-served rural areas in eastern Missouri. In addition to three main offices in west St. Louis County, Heartland maintains four rural outreach clinics. Through these offices and outreach clinics, Heartland provides hematology and oncology services and clinical research access to a total of ten counties in eastern Missouri. Heartland performs the following activities: 1) Enters significant numbers of participants on federally-sponsored cancer treatment trials 2) Enrolls participants in NCI-sponsored cancer prevention and control studies 3) Participates in cancer screening/early diagnosis clinics and provide education about cancer prevention strategies 4) Educates the public and professional colleagues about cancer research and raises the visibility of NCI trials 5) Participates actively in NCI-sponsored cooperative group life, quality assurance and science. The main component institutions of Heartland, Missouri Baptist Medical Center (MBMC) and The Center for Cancer Care and Research (CCCR) each have a long history of high-quality clinical oncology research through their respective cooperative group programs and the Cancer Trials Support Unit (CTSU). The components of that research include: (1) eleven medical oncologists and associated professional staff with clinical trial experience, (2) diligent protection of human subjects through compliance with OHRP and FDA regulations, (3) established, successful participant eligibility screening procedures, (4) refined protocol management procedures, and (5) a proven quality improvement program. In addition to their accrual and data management efforts, members of MBMC and CCCR have made contributions to the group life of CALGB, NSABP, and SWOG, as well as the CTSU. Through the unified consortium, the component and affiliate institutions will have the support required to expand the existing research program to offer clinical research access to a wide geographic area. Contributions to group life of the involved research bases and to the cancer-related health of the suburban and rural communities served by the consortium will become more pervasive by virtue of the Heartland Research Consortium CCOP. ? ?
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