Meeting Sessions:
Friday, October 15, 2-6pm
CRN Strategic Planning Committee
MENU Update
Friday, October 15, 7-9pm
CRN Dinner
Saturday, October 16, 9am-1pm
(working lunch)
CRN Core Projects Presentations
Scientific Interest Group Presentations
SDRC Update
*1-3pm on Saturday is designated
for breakout sessions/meetings

This year, our CRN Steering Committee meeting/Academic Liaison Committee is being held in conjunction with the 3rd Annual International Conference, “Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research,” located in Seattle from October 16-20. Many NCI staff attend this meeting.

Although the CRN is only in Year 2 of this four year cycle, planning for another renewal is already getting underway. The broader cancer research landscape has changed since we were funded in 1999, and the CRN is in the process of taking stock of its key strengths in order to best position itself for four more years of funding. So, a key element of this fall’s in-person meeting will be a discussion of recommendations developed by the CRN Strategic Planning Committee, an ad hoc work group convened in May.

-Maurleen Davidson/Sarah Greene, GHC

Survivorship

Convener: Ann Geiger

The Survivorship Interest Group began meeting in March 2004. The Group, led by Ann Geiger (KPSC), meets monthly by telephone and shares information via email listserv. The Group includes representatives from multiple CRN sites, with frequent participation by Diana Buist (GHC), Terry Field (Fallon/Meyers), Mark Hornbrook (KPNW) and Marianne Ulcickas Yood (Henry Ford). We are currently expanding our group to include scientists from outside the CRN, such as Carolyn Gotay from the University of Hawaii.

Initial Group discussions featured several review articles summarizing the cancer survivorship field and sharing our individual interests in survivorship research. The field itself is broad, as are our interests. Examples include: prognosis (predicting survivorship and time to recurrence and death); secondary prevention and surveillance; clinical effectiveness as measured by quality of life domains; behavioral interventions to improve quality of life; and treatment patterns and long-term effectiveness. The Group assessed the CRN portfolio and identified eight funded and two proposed studies that fall under the rubric of cancer survivorship.

To help us explore ideas, the Group created a spreadsheet that combines information from the disenrollment study with treatment characteristics. This spreadsheet allows us to quickly estimate how many diagnoses of a specific cancer site might be available for study and what percent of those cases are likely to survive one or five years. In addition we can identify common treatment types and distinguish cancers found in children. We currently are using data from existing studies to understand challenges survivorship studies may face in using automated data, particularly in terms of assessing cancer treatments.

Recent discussions have revolved around the recent NCI symptom management RFA and other potential ideas that may evolve into grant proposals. We plan to nurture development of several proposals over the next six months by sharing information on the field and funding opportunities, and providing opportunities to discuss ideas and identify collaborators.For further information or to join this Group, please contact Ann Geiger at ann.m.geiger@kp.org.

-Ann Geiger, KPSC

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