Cancer Prevention and Control Program

University Of Colorado Denver, Aurora CO

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Overview and Goals: The goal of the CPC program is to apply the expertise of behavioral, basic, and clinician scientists to conduct innovative and impactful cancer research that reduces Colorado's cancer burden. Program members work to improve population health, change clinical practice, and improve outcomes with a focus on approaches that reduce disparities associated with race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and rural/frontier residence. CPC brings together outstanding transdisciplinary, well-funded scientists with strengths from basic science through public health. Research Highlights: CPC conducts innovative and impactful research across many cancers, including lung, breast, colorectal, melanoma, and pancreatic relevant to cancer burden and disparities within the catchment. Using lung cancer research examples from each program aim, CPC members pioneered a chemoprevention approach to reverse endobronchial dysplasia (Aim 1). CPC members demonstrated the efficacy of a novel approach to improve quality of life and well-being among individuals diagnosed with lung and head/neck cancer (Aim 2). Leveraging the Population Health Shared Resource (PHSR), CPC members identified significant rural-urban disparities in uptake of innovative antineoplastic agents for metastatic lung cancer, demonstrating CPC expertise in health disparities research (Aim 3). Program Activities: CPC co-leaders, Agarwal and Studts, utilize support provided by UCCC to host annual retreats, monthly seminars, and ad hoc mini-retreats to facilitate intra- and inter-programmatic collaborations. Programmatic funding also supports pilot grants for mentored members and stimulates research in targeted areas that align with the catchment and health disparities. Members: The program has 41 Full and 13 mentored members with $2.8M NCI and $3.9M of other cancer peer-reviewed research grant funding in 2020. Members are from 34 departments and 6 schools, and most members hold primary affiliations with University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (UCAMC), University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) and Colorado State University (CSU). CPC members published 494 cancer-focused publications in 2016-2020, 13% published in journals with an impact factor ≥10, and 33% published in journals with an impact factor of ≥5. With extensive collaborations across programs, 216 (44%) of CPC publications were either inter-programmatic (29%), intra-programmatic (20%) or both (5%); and 167 (34%) constitute collaborations with other NCI-designated cancer center members. Future Directions: In concert with the UCCC strategic plan, CPC leadership seeks to accelerate the CPC growth trajectory in scientific impact, collaboration, research, community engagement, and training. CPC will pursue five specific future directions related to (1) translating and expanding chemoprevention; (2) escalating clinical research in behavioral oncology; (3) enhancing research in the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes; (4) enriching implementation science in cancer and (5) expanding graduate and post-graduate training in rural and frontier cancer prevention and control.