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| Purpose and Overview | Goals | Institution Profiles | Abstracts | Definitions | Cancer Control Academy | FAQ |
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NCI Cancer Control Academy The Cancer Control Academy initially was conceived by Dr. Otis Brawley, director of the Office of Special Populations Research, as a way to make the structure and function of the National Cancer Institute and the mechanisms by which it supports cancer research more transparent to grantees and others outside of the Institute. The Academy was launched with an immediate focus on the Special Populations Networks (SPNs), but over time, will be broadened to include a larger audience. The Academy was originally envisioned as a three-day course with a curriculum featuring a series of didactic lectures on cancer, cancer control research, and research funding. However, further development of the concept, tempered by past experiences, and recognition of optimal learning strategies led to the evolution of the Academy design into a 2-day course featuring highly interactive presentations by outstanding experts in their respective disciplines. Thus, the purpose for the Academy is to teach the principles and practice of cancer control in a way that directly benefits the Networks. The first meeting focused on the key first-year tasks that the SPNs must accomplish. Members of the SPNs were queried to assess their perceived needs for future sessions and topics. The first meeting of the Academy included keynote remarks by Dr. Richard Klausner, director of the National Cancer Institute, and an overview of cancer control research. We then focused the sessions on the Networks' key first-year tasks (see RFA 99-003, pg. 4), covered the core content relevant to those tasks, and taught the principles of participatory research. The meeting concluded with three concurrent sessions involving the Networks' grantees, NCI directors, and others. Each participant was encouraged to recognize anew that human behavior is a major determinant of successful cancer control and that the basic premise of cancer control requires the "useful application of results" of cancer research (75th Congress. Senate bill 2067. Public Law 244. Approved August 5, 1937). "If we are to achieve real impact on the cancer burden across the United States, the results of the cancer control research that NCI and other agencies support must be applied in programs that have wide-scale acceptance by states, localities, and health care systems." (Hiatt, Rimer, "A New Strategy for Cancer Control Research",1999). "Cancer control research is the conduct of basic and applied research in the behavioral, social, and population sciences that, independently, or in combination with biomedical approaches, reduces cancer risk, incidence, morbidity, and mortality and improves quality-of-life." "Research in epidemiology, cancer-related behaviors, and surveillance should be woven together inextricably to optimize progress in the control of cancer." "Cancer control research must address several realities that define the nation's current health status, and it must evolve with the changing needs of the population." "The role of surveillance of cancer control measures and cancer outcomes is critical to cancer control and serves both to generate hypotheses for cancer control research and to assess the outcomes of cancer control interventions. Surveillance research answers the question "Where are we?", but it also helps to form the question "Where do we go?". "Information synthesis is critical to cancer control. Synthesis answers the question "What's next?" and is rightfully at the interface of all other cancer control research activities." "The nation's goals for cancer control will not be readily achieved without the collaboration of the multiple agencies and organizations concerned with the control of cancer." "Behavioral intervention research has an underpinning in the basic sciences that requires ongoing support and integration into the cancer control process." |
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