Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Program of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship) coordinates and promotes all cancer prevention and control-related research activities within the center. The goal of CPC Program is to generate knowledge through innovative research and learning from the community, that will transform cancer prevention and care and reduce the cancer burden in Winship’s catchment area, the state of Georgia, and beyond. CPC has four scientific themes: (1) Cancer Epidemiology - to achieve high quality surveillance of the cancer burden and identify risk factors such as biological, behavioral, social and policy factors, and environmental exposures, to inform targeted interventions and strategies to reduce cancer risk in Georgia; (2) Interventions - focus on HPV vaccination uptake, individual behavioral interventions to reduce tobacco use and to prevent weight gain, and policy and systems-level changes with the ultimate goal of broad-scale implementation of effective strategies; (3) Cancer Survivorship and Symptom Management - focus on treatmentrelated early effects, including patient-reported outcomes, biobehavioral changes in the brain, childhood and adolescent cancer survivors transition to primary care, and late effects such as cardiovascular disease, which substantially affect the quality-of-life of cancer patients and survivors; and (4) Quality of Cancer Care - to conduct population-based research that describes, interprets, and predicts the impact of health care interventions and other factors on adherence to care, quality of cancer care, and outcomes. Under the leadership of Timothy L. Lash, Dsc, MPH (leader) and Mylin Torres, MD (co-leader), CPC includes 53 core members representing 16 different departments within the School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. This membership furnishes a rich research training environment for the next generation of cancer researchers. CPC engages in ongoing interactions with Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) to inform research on catchment area priorities and actively engages in promoting biomedical scientific careers. This highly collaborative group of researchers published 1,074 cancer-relevant scientific articles during the current funding period. Of these, 275 (26%) were intra- and 290 (27%) were interprogrammatic collaborations and 779 (73%) represented a collaboration with an external academic organization. 144 (13%) were published in journals with an impact factor of ≥ 10. As of end of 2021, CPC members held $14.5 million in annual total cancer-relevant research funding, of which $11.3 million is peer-reviewed (78%) and $8.6 million (59%) was awarded directly from NCI. Funding from NCI increased from $4.4 million in 2016 to $8.6 million in 2021. Notable new funding includes an R01 to support the addition of recurrence surveillance to the Georgia Cancer Registry ($3.7M total, R01CA234538, Ward/Lash), and renewed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding of the Emory Prevention Research Center (U48DP006377, Kegler), focused on cancer prevention in rural Georgia