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NIH
U.S. National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute

Historical Landmark Studies

"Today, SEER stands as the model and standard of excellence for cancer registries, both on a national and international scale. Despite the enormous challenges involved in monitoring cancer in the large, mobile, and diverse U.S. population, SEER has succeeded in building an extraordinary resource that has in so many ways galvanized epidemiologic research into the causes and control of cancer. Visionary in concept, SEER has earned its name with an unprecedented ability to identify emerging trends, geographic variation, ethnic disparities, and other patterns that have provided new directions for epidemiologic research in cancer etiology and control.”"
- Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr., M.D., Director, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI

During its 30 year history, SEER has made many scientific contributions to epidemiologic research in the areas of cancer care and treatment, cancer screening, prevention, and risk, genetics, health disparities, health policy and economics, models and methods, and cancer reporting. These contributions are demonstrated through the number of landmark studies in surveillance, epidemiology, and end results.