2019 Overview and Highlights

Each year, we bring you this report to highlight examples of research priorities and progress in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS). This year, we shine a spotlight on behavioral research and its important role across the cancer control continuum, from prevention to diagnosis and treatment to survivorship. While we have a program in DCCPS specifically focused on this area—the Behavioral Research Program (BRP)— behavioral research is rightfully integrated into research supported across the entire division, as well as across the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

I’m pleased to share here some of the signature behavioral research initiatives supported by our division, examples of advances in methods development, descriptions of behavioral data resources we maintain and share with our research community, and an overview of some emerging areas in behavioral research. We also describe some of the ways in which the behavioral research supported by DCCPS informs cancer care and public health policy.

The information that follows is intended to underscore how behavioral research—particularly the innovative research that NCI supports through our funded investigator community—plays a critical role in helping to prevent the development of cancer, as well as mitigating the effects of cancer on patients diagnosed with cancer, their families, and their caregivers. Through behavioral research and the full scope of research supported through DCCPS, each year we move ever closer toward achieving our fundamental mission—to reduce risk, incidence, and deaths from cancer and enhance the quality of life of cancer survivors.

As always, we are grateful for our talented investigator community and our collaborative colleagues and partners, both within and outside NCI, who help us to identify existing and future challenges in cancer control so that we can steer a course toward accomplishing our goals more efficiently and effectively.