Wake Forest NCORP Research Base

The overarching goal of the Wake Forest NCORP Cancer Center Research Base (WF NCORP RB) is to improve patient well-being and the quality of cancer care by developing, implementing and successfully completing innovative and feasible Cancer Control and Cancer Care Delivery (CCDR) clinical research studies. For nearly two decades as a CCOP and now NCORP Research Base, Wake Forest has maintained an exclusive focus on Cancer Control and CCDR studies and has emphasized efficient operational processes and extensive interactions with our NCORP Community Site and Minority Underserved Community Site partners. During the first 4 years of the NCORP network, the WF NCORP RB: opened 7 Cancer Control and 3 CCDR studies; enrolled 1,140 participants on WF NCORP RB studies; obtained approval for 5 additional concepts and protocols bringing the total remaining and planned accrual for active and pending trials to over 4,420 participants; and achieved a 33% accrual rate of racial/ethnic minority participants, as well as 68% women, 14% rural residents and 26% age 65 or greater. Over the next 6 years, we will build on and strengthen this highly successful platform by accomplishing the following Specific Aims: Specific Aim 1: Extend our cancer control clinical research activities in the following areas: cardiovascular complications of cancer therapy; radiation and chemotherapy-induced neurocognitive toxicities; and additional cancer and treatment-related symptoms and related-outcomes prioritized by NCI steering committees and those commonly associated with novel emerging treatment paradigms. Specific Aim 2: Elucidate and intervene upon patient, family, clinician, and organizational factors that influence cancer care delivery, emphasizing survivorship care, informal cancer caregivers and implementation of evidence-based supportive care services. Specific Aim 3: Illuminate biological mechanisms underlying cancer and treatment-related symptoms and toxicities in new and innovative multidisciplinary collaborative studies taking advantage of our growing biobank of blood, urine and salivary fluid specimens. Specific Aim 4: Identify and address determinants of cancer disparities via disparities-focused studies, integrated aims focused on underserved populations, and targeted recruitment of racial and ethnic minority and underserved populations across all Wake Forest NCORP research investigations. Specific Aim 5: Train the next generation of Cancer Control and CCDR researchers through mentoring and involvement of early career faculty, oncology trainees, post-doctoral fellows, and students in WF NCORP activities. Our ongoing and proposed Cancer Control and CCDR studies will continue to improve oncology care by informing best practices for symptom and late effect management as well as efficient, patient-centered, evidence-based cancer care delivery for diverse patient populations. In the next funding period, the WF NCORP RB will help accelerate the translation of knowledge in cancer control and cancer care delivery through close partnership with community and minority underserved sites and studies designed for future dissemination and implementation. This work will support NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions to understand the basis of pain ad enhance clinical pain management.