Puerto Rico Minority Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program (Puerto Rico MUNCORP)

The PR NCORP will be the only organization that conducts significant, meaningful NCI - directed Clinical Cancer Research on the island of Puerto Rico focused on minorities and underserved communities for cancer treatment and cancer care delivery. It will be the backbone for the development of the multidisciplinary cancer care for the newly built University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center (UPRCCC), which will officially open to patient care on August 20, 2018. All faculty members including translational researchers and clinical care providers are expected to participate in the PR NCORP for the purposes of broadening the catchment base for accrual to our clinical trials. Each department within the CCCUPR, such as Gynecologic Oncology for example with four active faculty surgeons, will participate directly in NRG studies and will use the PR NCORP as the platform for development of the department. All patients seen in the CCCUPR will be consented for enrollment in the PR NCORP broadly for purposes of demographical and clinical data gathering with specialized consent for tissue donation. The PRNCORP is also a source of knowledge to the broad oncology medical community. It will serve to improve cancer treatment and care for Adult and Pediatric patients throughout its participating institutions and beyond. Our PI's and Co-PI's are experienced professionals with over 30 years of experience in Clinical Research with very strong staff and support personnel. Our fellows and attendings are active participants of Medical Schools, tumor boards, cancer seminars and are involved in yearly updates to the Medical Community, such as ASCO and ASH Review Conference Series in the island. Our research environment will improve: (1) Pathology Departments, (2) Radiology Imaging Departments, (3) Radiotherapy Service, (4) Gastroenterology, (5) Surgery, (6) Hematology-Oncology Treatment Program and (7) Direct Patient Care.