Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), the keystone of the cancer-related activities of both Dartmouth College, and its Geisel School of Medicine, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, will participate in the NCI's National Clinical Trials Network as a Lead Academic Participating Site. NCCC has a long history of leadership in national cooperative group clinical trials, dating back to serving as an operating center for CALGB, and more recently as a full member of CALGB's successor (the Alliance), RTOG, and COG, and as an Affiliate member of GOG. As the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in northern New England, NCCC currently serves annually over 5,200 new and 30,000 returning cancer patients. NCCC is the specialty academic center for Vermont and New Hampshire, anchoring a network of 17 community- based practice sites across the region and receiving referrals of rare and advanced cancers, the target population for enrollment on innovative clinical. Trials, from a large geographic catchment area. Within Dartmouth, NCCC has a central Office of Clinical Research (OCR) which coordinates full participation in the entire range of available clinical trials. NCCC intends to participate in all 6 pending NCI-designated networks, expanding its prior focus on participation in the Alliance. We anticipate earning annually close to 400 enrollment credits for adult subjects on studies, including a projected 74 consented subjects on interventional therapeutic trial s. Care at DH is organized into 17 designated interdisciplinary disease-based teams which bring together all relevant specialties, 14 on a weekly basis, for new patient conferences at which eligibility for enrollment on clinical trials is assessed routinely. NCCC research nurses assigned to these Clinical Oncology Groups (COGs) are responsible for keeping the teams informed of available trials, and the NCCC clinical trials management system (Velos eResearch) provides the teams reports tracking current enrollment. While highest priority is given to translating NCCC science into clinical application, Dartmouth's size precludes most single-institution studies, and national cooperative group trials are prioritized ahead of industry initiated studies for fulfillment of NCCC's clinical research mission.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is the leading specialty care network for a vast geographic region covering New Hampshire and Vermont statewide. The Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) is the academic hub for services to rare and advanced cancer cases across the region. As a Lead Academic Participating Site, NCCC will assure northern New England cancer patients an accessible opportunity to enroll in clinical trials.
