Selected Current Grants and Contracts, 2006-2007

The LIVESTRONG Survivorship Center of Excellence

Dr. Al Marcus, Principal Investigator

Funded by the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 2006, this five-year grant established a LIVESTRONG^TM Survivorship Center of Excellence at UCCC. This Center is serving as the focal point for coordinating and expanding all cancer patient and survivor support services at UCCC, as well as expanding cancer patient and survivor support services at three community-based centers in Colorado (i.e., Denver Health Medical Center, St Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo, Colorado, and St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colorado).  Included among the support services that are being enhanced or expanded as part of this Center are:

• on-site patient and survivor educational programs and workshops
• dedicated Cancer Resource Centers at each collaborating institution (library of print materials with Intranet access to online resources)
• proactive telephone outreach and counseling to cancer patients and survivors
• continuing medical education seminars and programs in cancer survivorship offered to medical and other professional staff (especially at the three community-based centers)

Cancer Information Service Research Consortium

Dr. Al Marcus, Principal Investigator

Funded as a NCI program project grant in collaboration with NCI’s Cancer Information Service (CIS), three interrelated component projects will test a state-of-the-science web-based multimedia program for:

• newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients (Project 1)
• newly diagnosed breast cancer patients (Project 2)
• breast cancer patients completing their primary treatment for breast cancer (Project 3)

All program participants will be recruited from the CIS telephone service at the end of their usual service call to the CIS. A second intervention will also be tested for efficacy in which Information Specialists of the CIS will make a scheduled outcall to program participants. 

Major outcomes for program evaluation will include treatment decision-making, cancer-specific distress and depression, and cancer-related quality of life.  This program project, which was funded in 2006, represents the third such program project conducted in collaboration with the CIS.  Collaborating institutions (with the UCCC) include the Fox Chase Cancer Center, the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Understanding and Improving Breast Cancer Survivorship in Latinas

Dr. Tim Byers, Principal Investigator

In this longitudinal cohort study, approximately 1,000 participants in the Southwest Hormone, Insulin, Nutrition and Exercise (SHINE) Women’s Health Study are being re-interviewed. The sample includes about 275 Hispanic and non-Hispanic White breast cancer survivors (cases), and a similar number of Hispanic and non-Hispanic White controls. Assessments that have been added to the original SHINE cohort study include diet, physical activity, quality of life, and health care system interactions. When completed, this will be one of the largest studies of breast cancer survivorship among Hispanics in this country.

Patient Navigator Research Program

Dr. Peter Raich, Principal Investigator

Funded in response to RFA CA-05-019, this randomized trial is testing an innovative patient navigation program at Denver Health Medical Center, targeting patients from the point of an abnormal screening test to treatment for breast, colorectal and prostate cancers. Innovative features of this patient navigation program include:

• building upon an existing on-site and community-based patient navigation program involving lay health workers (i.e., Community Voices)
• combining this program with a proactive telephone counseling service
• integrating both of these program components within a large public-supported medical center, where a large percentage of eligible patients will be Hispanic and underserved.

Major outcomes for program evaluation will include accelerating the time between an abnormal screening test and diagnostic follow-up, on-set of therapy (for cancer patients), adherence to treatment and completion of treatment, as well as improving patient-reported outcomes (e.g., self-efficacy, satisfaction, psychosocial outcomes).

Metro Denver Black Church Initiative

Dr. Al Marcus, Principal Investigator

Funded by the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, this three-year planning and capacity-building grant is implementing a program of community-based participatory research to reduce behavioral risk factors for cancer in Northeast Denver. The major community partner in this effort is the Center for African American Health, which has formed a consortium consisting of 35-40 primarily African American churches in Northeast Denver. It is anticipated that these churches will provide the venue for outreach programs in cancer prevention and control. The short-term goal of this initiative is to conduct a pilot study in the areas of diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer screening, which would then lead to future efficacy trials and dissemination studies.

The Colorado Colorectal Screening Program

Dr. Tim Byers, Principal Investigator

In September, 2006, the Colorado Colorectal Screening Program received a $3 million grant to provide colon cancer screening for uninsured residents of Colorado. The funding for this initiative comes from the tax increase on tobacco products in Colorado. This landmark initiative, which could provide a model program for the nation, is supporting colorectal cancer screening across all community clinics in Colorado, targeting patients who are uninsured and 250% below the Federal poverty level. Eligible patients are being screened by sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, with the long-range goal of screening 12,500 Coloradans by 2010. Accompanying this screening outreach program is an awareness and promotion campaign to encourage all age-appropriate residents to seek colorectal cancer screening.

Taken together, the grants and contracts summarized above highlight several essential themes that characterize the future research interests and priorities of the Program, including: 

• reducing cancer-related disparities in the Rocky Mountain Region and beyond, with a particular focus on Hispanics and African Americans
• cancer survivorship and patient navigation programs as a high priority area of research
• a particular focus on promoting colorectal cancer screening as a major public health challenge for the nation
• continuing our highly productive collaboration with the NCI’s CIS in health communications research
• conducting intervention research that has significant potential for dissemination as usual service programs, both regionally and nationally