Cancer Center Support Grant

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

As the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer not located in a major urban hub, the Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC) oversees all cancer-related academic and clinical activities across both Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Health. We are committed to providing high-quality clinical care and generating important new knowledge benefiting cancer patients in both our rural, two-state catchment area and around the world. DCC delivers nationally recognized, compassionate, community-based care to its catchment area, supporting cancer health and validating new models for optimizing rural cancer care delivery and prevention. Drawing on cancer research talent from across a world-class liberal arts college, medical school, graduate school, engineering school, business school, and academic health system, DCC’s mission is to accelerate trans-disciplinary research to prevent and cure cancer, enhance survivorship, promote cancer-related health, and train the oncology workforce for the future. DCC has four trans-disciplinary Research Programs: 1) Cancer Population Sciences (CPS), 2) Translational Engineering in Cancer (TEC), 3) Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy (ICI) and 4) Cancer Signaling, Genomes, and Networks (SGN). These programs provide oversight of robust, program- specific clinical trial portfolios and generate therapeutic innovation, high-impact publications, and extramural funding. Their growth in the past funding cycle includes a 23% increase in cancer-relevant, peer-reviewed funding and a doubling in the number of multi-component/multi-PI awards. DCC researchers produced impactful interdisciplinary and translational discoveries, including multiple publications on rural cancer health, and formed a new Center for Rural Health Care Delivery Science. During the most recent funding period, DCC recruited 56 new junior and senior faculty members spanning 19 departments across Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, and Dartmouth Health. Since its last NCI renewal, DCC has: 1) delivered nationally-recognized Press Ganey “Pinnacle of Excellence” award-winning cancer care to close to 100,000 individual patients across a now fully integrated Oncology Service Line; 2) accrued more than 6,000 patients to interventional clinical trials; and 3) doubled patient accrual to both therapeutic clinical trials and to NCTN Lead Academic Participating Site target accruals. DCC has additionally expanded its Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) and Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) efforts, charged with generating synergies across DCC’s Research Programs to reduce the multiple burdens of cancer. The efforts are a vital part of DCC’s 2023 Strategic Plan, which provides a roadmap for starting DCC’s second half-century dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients and promoting cancer health.