The State of New Mexico is characterized by ethnic diversity and unusual patterns of cancer incidence and mortality. A substantial number of New Mexicans are young, rural, poor, and medically uninsured and underserved. With a higher percentage of Hispanics and Native Americans than any other State, New Mexico's 1.8 million citizens are 45% White, 42% Hispanic, 10% Native American, 2% Black, and 1% other ethnic minorities. In addition to English and Spanish, our Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and Ute Indian Tribes speak over twenty different languages and dialects. In this context, the mission of the University of New Mexico Cancer Research and Treatment Center (UNM CRTC) is to use its expertise in basic, translational, and clinical cancer research, cancer epidemiology, and community intervention to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer in New Mexico's multiethnic populations. Participation in cooperative cancer prevention and treatment trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the MB-CCOP program, is a critical part of this mission. CRTC investigators have been contributing patients and scientific expertise to the NCI program since the Center opened in 1975. Currently funded with an NCI P20 Cancer Center Planning Grant, the CRTC has excellent research and primary cancer prevention programs supported by $83 million in total peer-reviewed funding. Among these is the New Mexico Tumor Registry (NMTR), one of the original Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) programs, now in its 30th year of NCI funding. The NMTR holds the world's largest database on cancer incidence and mortality in Hispanics and Native Americans and has documented strikingly different patterns of cancer incidence and mortality in these groups. Funded under the the MB-CCOP program since August 2000, the CRTC is building strong clinical cancer programs through the recruitment of 14 new oncology clinical specialists and the development of a new expanded clinical trials infrastructure at UNM and its affiliate sites. Together, the UNM CRTC and its Affiliates serve 80% of the cancer patients in the State. In close parallel with New Mexico's ethnic diversity, 52% of the patients currently enrolled from our MB-CCOP program to NCl-sponsored treatment and prevention trials are ethnic minorities: 31% Hispanic, 16% American Indian, 4% Asian, and 1% Black. Prior to being funded as a MB-CCOP program, the CRTC was a member institution of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and the Pediatric Oncology Group (POG); CRTC faculty continue to play significant leadership roles in these groups. Additional Research Bases include the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) and most recently, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). Renewed funding of this MB-CCOP program will insure increased access and accrual of minorities to clinical trials, strengthen our Affiliate Network, facilitate the building of clinical trials programs with Hispanic and Native American Tribes and communities, and expand outreach to minority populations and the medically underserved in our region.
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