The University of Kansas Cancer Center's- MCA Rural NCORP- extension

The overarching goal for The University of Kansas Cancer Center – Masonic Cancer Alliance Rural NCORP (KUCC-MCA Rural NCORP) is to enhance rural communities access to clinical trials in cancer control, prevention, treatment, care delivery clinical trials, and other human research developed and conducted by NCORP Research Bases. While cancer affects all, rural communities are more at risk than others for poor outcomes.[1] Inaccessibility of clinical trials due to geographic barriers is an often cited reason for not enrolling in studies.[2] KUCC is strongly positioned to continue to enhance clinical trial accrual and participation of rural populations through its leadership of the Masonic Cancer Alliance (MCA) and its cadre of accomplished investigators with extensive experience working with rural communities and practices. The MCA is KUCC’s formal outreach network that has partnered with hospitals, cancer centers, and health care providers across the state of Kansas for close to two decades. The goal of these MCA partnerships is to extend the reach of clinical research across the KUCC catchment area, with a particular focus on rural communities. The MCA includes co-administration and support of our state-wide rural primary care practice-based research network, Kansas Patients and Providers Engaged in Prevention Research (KPPEPR), under the leadership of Dr. K. Allen Greiner, one of KUCC’s leading cancer prevention investigators. KPPEPR is a network engaging primary care providers from across Kansas with a longstanding history of supporting cancer prevention and control research initiatives, 34 who have participated in projects with KUCC in the last five years. The KUCC-MCA Rural NCORP leverages our over 50-year experience as a SWOG-member, nearly 30-year experience providing oncology care via telemedicine, 25-year history of successfully conducting research in rural primary care settings, and 15-year experience opening and running clinical trials within rural health care networks—all supported by KUCC expertise in partnering with rural oncology and primary care practices to accomplish our goals. Specifically, the KUCC-MCA Rural NCORP addresses institutional, provider, clinical trial, and patient barriers to trial accrual, and implemented processes to: 1) Enhance the infrastructure of local cancer centers and primary care offices to support clinical trial accrual; 2) Expand access to NCORP clinical trials across the MCA network; 3) Decrease barriers to clinical trial participation for rural patients across Kansas and western Missouri by providing trial participation opportunities in their home communities; and 4) Leverage KUCC-MCA expertise for addressing rural cancer clinical trial participation with NCORP grantees.