The Feist-Weiller Cancer Center (FWCC) Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (MB- CCOP) aims to provide increased access to state-of-the-art cancer prevention.care, and control .through NCI-sponsored clinical trials to the minority and indigent populations in the northwestern section of La., and throughout the state of Louisiana. The Feist-Weiller Cancer Center was established at the Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) to provide multidisciplinary cancer care, and clinical and translational research targeted to the unique population in Northwest La, which will improve the public health by decreasing cancer incidence and deaths. The population was plagued with high rates of poverty, low literacy and low levels of education, little access to modern approaches to prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer, and often presented with late stages of cancer. 55% of newly diagnosed cancer patients at LSUHSC-S are African-Americans. With the destruction of Charity and University Hospitals in New Orleans by hurricane Katrina, LSUHSC-S is now the only intact tertiary care hospital providing care to the .state's indigent and has become the major site for treatment of patients with leukemia, lymphomas and requiring bone marrow transplant. To provide local access to cancer clinical trials for the increased referal area.the FWCC plans to establish an organizational and operational base which will provide the structure to effectively implement a program to provide a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care and prevention for patients referred to the FWCC and in the patients'local comunities. The FWCC MB-CCOP will provide access to NCI-sponsored clinical trials, and research coordinator support. Education will be provided to community physicians through teleconferencing cancer tumor boards. Outreach programs to educate the indigent and minority population about cancer prevention, screening, and treatment, and clinical trials available through the FWCC MB-CCOP will be conducted w/ the assistance of the Louisiana Cancer Control Partnership, an organization dedicated to reducing cancer disparities by providng education, screening, referrals, information dissemination, and other resources in the minority and underserved communities. The FWCC has a history of >40% minority accrual to SWOG, CTSU, NCI, and industry treatment and prevention studies. Plans to expand minority acccess and accrual are detailed in this application.
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