Background
Stroger Hospital of Cook County (SHCC), initially named Cook County Hospital, became a Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program (MBCCOP) in June 2002. The SHCC MBCCOP has recruited more than 300 patients to nearly 30 NCI-approved clinical trials, the majority of which are breast cancer studies. This MBCCOP has provided resources that deliver high-quality, state-of-the-art cancer research and care to the medically underserved population in the Chicago metro area. The program consists of six surgical oncologists, five medical oncologists, two radiation oncologists, two pathologists, and one hematology oncologist. In addition to the physician base, the SHCC MBCCOP is supported by two CRA/physician assistants, one administrator, one senior research scientist, two laboratory technicians, two project assistants, five patient navigators, one statistician, and one IT professional.

Community Characteristics
SHCC is the major tertiary care site for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and provides care regardless of patients' ability to pay. The majority of cancer cases come from more than 100 indigent, minority, or underserved neighborhoods. Patients are referred to SHCC from nearly 70 Chicago area clinics and hospitals.

Enrollment and Outreach Activities
Initial accrual at SHCC was mainly to the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) breast cancer treatment studies. NSABP is 1 of 13 CCOP research bases that design and conduct large cancer treatment, control, and prevention studies. To improve recruitment, SHCC formed multidisciplinary teams to expand research to include other common solid tumor sites including head and neck, and colorectal cancers. Myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia studies have been opened, and control and prevention strategies are being pursued.

Staff members provide emotional support and health education for patients and their families. They also provide access to screening and early diagnosis activities, help with navigation through complex medical systems with support for many languages, and support and advocacy for cancer survivors. Because many patients do not have primary care physicians, SHCC MBCCOP staff assist them with referrals to primary care physicians, social workers, and other specialty medical providers.

Other Key Facts
One of the requirements for an MBCCOP is accrual to cancer prevention and control trials, as well as to treatment trials. In addition to enrolling patients in breast cancer treatment and prevention trials through NSABP, SHCC has affiliated with the Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of Michigan CCOPs, and is collaborating with the University of Chicago and University of Illinois on prevention and control trials.

SHCC MBCCOP has created an Investigator Network Web site to help disseminate protocol information to investigators. Web site information includes protocol status, IRB and research base correspondence, protocol amendments, meeting minutes, and upcoming events and conferences.