Indiana Regional Cancer Center CCOP has already established all of the functional structures and mechanisms of a Community Clinical Oncology Program. In fact, our CCOP has accomplished many of our specific goals, including: to create a research program that involves and mobilizes oncology resources and the resources of the medical community at large; to seek and obtain the commitment of physicians and other health care professionals to participate in clinical and cancer control research; to seek and obtain from hospital administrative leadership commitments to support appropriate administrative and data management activities; to identify appropriate research bases, to complete agreements to participate and to begin accruing patients to clinical trials, exceeding NCI standards; to establish a system for identification of potential patients for clinical and cancer control trials; and to establish a program for quality control of data that assures the highest possible standards of excellence. In addition, we have initiated a program that emphasizes cancer control research by mobilizing community resources to target key populations for appropriate protocols. The Indiana Regional Cancer Center CCOP represents a distinctive concentration of resources that have allowed it, in an extremely short period of time, to achieve many of its initial goals and which promise to permit our CCOP to become an outstanding member of the NCI CCOP network. We have an experienced Principal Investigator, as well as an experienced group of co-investigators, each of whom has a distinguished track record of involvement in clinical and cancer control research. Our experience and interest in cancer control research is demonstrated by our complete work-up of the two proposed cancer control initiatives, and by our involvement of primary care physicians, surgeons and other sub specialists who have ongoing access to cancer patients. In addition, we have an experienced data management staff who have created a detailed data management plan. We have significant levels of commitment from hospital administration, with over $465,000 contributed to support the administrative component and over $150,000 given in direct support of the research program. This financial support indicates the dedication of our Member Institutions to the CCOP. The combination of resources and past achievements demonstrated by our CCOP, and illustrated in this application, indicates the great potential of Indiana Regional Cancer Center CCOP.
