The overall goal of this application is to establish and characterize a large collection of patient-derived cancer xenografts (PDXs) from 4 cancer types occurring in African American (AA), Hispanic (HLA), and Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) patients in comparison with Non-Hispanic White (NHW) PDX cancers, and utilize these PDXs to guide cancer precision medicine decision making focusing on racial/ethnic minority populations. We established a University of California Minority-PDX and Trial Development Center (UCaMP) that is built on an existing cancer health disparity research network, and includes four University of California (UC) NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers: UC Davis, UC Irvine Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (UC Irvine), UC Los Angeles Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCLA), and UC San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCSF). The role of the Administrative Core is to coordinate the research effort among different campuses and to maximize the use of the funding and resources. The Administrative core members include Ralph de Vere White, MD, who is responsible for the overall program administration and who has conducted extensive research in PDXs, and served as the Director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center for over 20 years. The other members of this Core include three PIs of this U54, sites-PIs of each UC campus, and grant administrator Ai-Hong Ma, MD, PhD, who will perform the standard managerial duties required of a U54 grant. In addition, this Administrative Core and the Pilot Projects and Trans- Network Activities Core (PPTNAC) will work closely with the NCI staff, the PDXNet Data Commons and Coordinating Center (PDCCC) and other PDX Development and Trials Centers (PDTCs) to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs), coordinate research activities and cross-validate PDX research. Our communications will be enhanced by hosting regularly scheduled project/core-specific meetings, monthly program-wide conference calls, quarterly inter-program meetings, bi-annual meetings of the Administrative Core with UCaMP's Cancer Health Disparities Advisory Board, and an annual retreat that integrates UCaMP stakeholders with NCI management team, PDCCC and other PDTCs. During the annual retreat, we will engage in a formal evaluation of UCaMP's progress towards accomplishment of our overall and project/core specific aims. Other topics that will be assessed minimally annually but more frequently as needed will be fiscal management, evaluation of project and core productivity as indicated by publication quantity and quality, resource re-distribution, intra- and inter-program collaboration and integration, quality control, database establishment and maintenance, publication and grant progress monitoring, and quality control of human subjects and IACUC regulatory approvals.
