The Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program (CPC) of the YCC was initiated in the mid-1980s,with the selection of Yale as one of the first two NIH-funded Cancer Prevention Research Units (CPRUs) inthe United States (US). In 1993, Dr. Susan Mayne was appointed as Program Leader, and in 1995, she wasappointed as Associate Director for Population Science of the Center. Dr. Mayne oversees all aspects ofprevention and control research for the YCC. CPC has a long and rich history of using the State ofConnecticut as a population laboratory for cancer prevention and control research. The program is enhancedby its link to the Connecticut Tumor Registry, the oldest population-based tumor registry in the US and anNCI-funded SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program) site. In addition, researchershave access to the YCC Rapid Case Ascertainment Shared Resource (RCA), which identifies patients withnewly diagnosed cancer throughout the State on a rapid basis, facilitating research projects. This SharedResource is unique, and is complemented by the Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource, allowing forpopulation-based molecular epidemiology research. The program can thematically be grouped into twoprimary themes. The first theme is lifestyle factors and genetics in the etiology of cancer, with the objective ofelucidating the roles of (a) nutrition, physical activity, and obesity in cancer; (b) environmental factors andcancer; and (c) molecular/genetic factors in cancer in human populations. The program also evaluates thecauses of and approaches for mitigation of (d) racial disparities and cancer; and (e) develops new statisticalmethodologies to inform researchers in the areas above. The second major theme is behavioralinterventions in cancer prevention/control. Research emphasizes the use of behavioral interventions topromote effective cancer prevention and control interventions, ranging from primary prevention (tobaccocontrol, diet change) through early detection message framing, to survivorship interventions and finally toend-of-life care. The program has a total of 29 program members representing 4 schools and 9 departments.Program members have a total of $6.7 million in research grant funding (annual direct costs), of which $6.1million direct costs is peer-reviewed. Of this, $1.8 million is NCI-funded. Program members contributed atotal of 360 publications since the last renewal, of which 33% percentage are intra-programmatic and 8.3%percentage are interprogrammatic. Program members collaborate with other relevant groups at Yaleincluding the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center and the YCC Cancer Information Service, andthe Program is the host for several training programs including an NCI-funded pre-doctoral training programin cancer epidemiology and genetics.
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