is an independent, non-profit organization working to improve cancer care in Georgia by strengthening clinical research throughout the state.
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Bill Todd will speak at the Oct 5 Institute of Medicine Conference:
A Foundation for Evidence-Driven Practice: A Rapid Learning System for Cancer Care. |
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GCC's
2009 CANCER RESEARCH
SYMPOSIUM
November 5 & 6
UGA Conference Center
Athens, Georgia
Registration Opens after Labor Day | |
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Letter to the Editor published August 7, 2009 in
CANCER CLINICAL TRIALS: GEORGIA a MODEL
What does it take to maximize cancer clinical trial enrollment? A significant investment of resources to increase availability, access and collaboration.
The Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education, which the Georgia Cancer Coalition helps finance, has built a statewide clinical research network with 57 active sites in 26 cities. Academic cancer researchers communicate with more than 200 community oncologists in various disciplines and collaborate on trials meaningful to their patients and communities while advancing scientific objectives.
Patients and providers have access to a statewide database listing 360 adult and 80 pediatric clinical trials; training programs to educate and update cancer research associates; and a collective infrastructure for clinical trials through multiple National Cancer Institute-financed state programs. Plus, the major insurers voluntarily agreed to clinical trials coverage.
The result? Georgia's accredited cancer centers enrolled 12 percent of patients in research clinical trials in 2006 and 2007.
 William J. Todd, President & CEO, Georgia Cancer Coalition
Response to 8/3 article: Lack of Study Volunteers May Hobble Cancer Fight
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 Cancer Patient Navigator Conferees Discuss State Group
More than 100 cancer patient navigators from Georgia attended a statewide conference to learn about progress in the field and discuss the formation of a Georgia Cancer Patient Navigation Association.
Nurses, social workers, cancer survivors and community health advocates who perform cancer patient navigation functions heard from the founder of patient navigation, Dr. Harold Freeman (pictured above, center); the director of patient navigation for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Caroline Huffman; and Dr. Sheryl-Gabram-Mendola and Dr. Kimberly Jacob Arriola, the principal investigators on an AVON Foundation grant funding a patient navigation pilot program in the Grady Health System.
The program was sponsored by the Georgia Society for Clinical Oncology (President Dr. Matthew Mumber above left) and the GCC (Vice President Angie Patterson, above right). GASCO & GCC conducted a survey of cancer patient navigators in Georgia that demonstrated great interest in forming a statewide organization for networking, education and training, advocacy, and sharing of resources. Read more |
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National Cancer Institute Names Emory to Nationwide NCI Chemical Biology Consortium
CBC To Support Rapid Development of Innovative, Targeted Cancer Therapies
Emory University's Chemical Biology Discovery Center has been selected by SAIC-Frederick, Inc. (SAIC-F) to be part of an 11-member national consortium aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of new and innovative, targeted cancer therapies. SAIC-F is the prime contractor to the National Cancer Institute at Frederick (NCI-Frederick).
The national Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC) will bridge the gap between basic scientific investigation and clinical research supported by the NCI. The consortium will focus on unmet medical needs, such as drugs that are of low interest to the pharmaceutical industry but that could have significant benefit for patients. It is expected to bring the skills of hundreds of chemical biologists, oncologists, and synthetic and medicinal chemists to bear on particularly challenging problems in molecular oncology.
The Georgia Research Alliance provided initial support for the Chemical Biology Discovery Center; GCC is providing matching funds. Read more |
Cancer biomarker identification software tools earn certification
 The explosive growth of genomic and proteomic data has ushered in a new era of molecular medicine in which cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment are tailored to each individual's molecular profile. But this personalized medicine approach requires that researchers discover and link biomarkers -- such as genes or proteins -- to specific disease behaviors, such as the rate of tumor progression and different responses to treatments.
Two new software programs that help address that challenge earned silver-level compatibility certification from the National Cancer Institute's cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid® or caBIG®. The programs improve the process of identifying cancer biomarkers from gene expression data.
Developed by GCC Distinguished Cancer Scholar May Wang and her team in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, the programs -- caCORRECT and omniBioMarker -- remove noise and artifacts, and identify and validate biomarkers from microarray data. Funding to develop the programs was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Georgia Cancer Coalition, Microsoft Research and Hewlett-Packard. Read More
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CAU Genomics Center's Focus is
Personal Diagnosis and Treatment
The Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development (CCRTD) at Clark Atlanta University (CAU) has joined forces with the Integrative Cancer Research Center (ICRC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology to establish a Collaborative Cancer Genomics Center (CCGC). The partnership will integrate expertise at both universities that will focus on understanding the underlying causes of prostate, ovarian, pancreatic and lung cancers. Saint Joseph's Health System(SJHS)/Atlanta will collaborate in this effort to provide patient-oriented medicine.
Announcing the partnership are (left to right): Dr. George Daneker, director, Oncology Research, SJHS; Dr. Carlton E. Brown, president, CAU; Dr. Shafiq A. Khan, director, CAU Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development, and Dr. John McDonald, director, The Ovarian Cancer Institute, Georgia Tech.
Researchers will focus on identifying personalized cancer diagnosis and treatment, which will have a significant impact on the field of science and cancer treatment. Read more | |
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