CARRA members participate in a variety of NCI activities involving scientific research and the communication of research results. Categories of these NCI activities are listed in the table below. NCI staff members have requested the participation of CARRA members in their activities 742 times since the start of the CARRA program in September 2001.
Please note:
- The total number of times CARRA members have participated in NCI activities is greater than the total number of NCI staff requests below, because an activity may need the participation of one or multiple CARRA members.
- The number of meetings, events, project components, etc. which CARRA members have participated in is greater than the number of requests made by NCI staff because a single request can involve participation on one or multiple dates over a year or more.
- The CARRA program is continuously working on additional ways to quantify and report the levels of CARRA participation in NCI's work.
Type of Activity |
Number of NCI Staff Requests |
Peer Review Activities - (the review and evaluation of grant applications to determine scientific and technical merit) |
- Committees (a standing committee that meets more than once)
|
18 |
- Meetings (a one-time meeting)
|
322 |
- Site Visits (site visits to potential grantees)
|
61 |
Non-Peer Review Activities - |
- Committees (a standing committee that meets more than once)
|
72 |
- Editorial Boards (editorial board for NCI publications)
|
5 |
- Educational Materials Development (review of print, electronic, or other medium educational materials)
|
102 |
- Meetings (a one-time meeting)
|
68 |
- Progress Review Group (PRG) (panels of 20 to 30 prominent members of the scientific, medical, and advocacy communities that assess the state of the science for a single type of cancer or group of closely related cancers and make recommendations for future research)
|
5 |
- Research Tool Development (review of surveys, interview guides, or other types of research tools)
|
2 |
- Website Usability Testing (review of website for readability and ease of navigation)
|
27 |
- Workshops(a one-time meeting where discussion and learning are the primary activities)
|
22 |
- Other (any activity that does not fit into one of the above categories, including non peer-review related informed consent review)
|
38 |
Total: |
742 |
Last Updated on October 1, 2008
Fiscal Year 2006-2008
Institute staff request CARRA member participation for research and related activities that are strengthened and enriched with the perspective of patients, survivors, family members, and caregivers.
Fiscal Years 2002-2008
CARRA members participate in research and related activities at the request of NCI staff. A closer look at the number of requests reveals that approximately one-third are asking for participation by multiple consumer advocates. The CARRA program consistently provides more than enough names to fill the programmatic requirements of the complete request. Then the NCI staff member selects the CARRA consumer advocate(s) who best match(es) the needs of their activity.
Most NCI staff requests are seeking CARRA member involvement in a one-time activity, such as a single peer review meeting or a single web usability session. Others involve numerous interactions in projects over months or years, such as advocate representatives on standing review committees and on workgroups for caBIG, the NCI Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid.
The following seven diagrams illustrate the proportion of CARRA requests for a range of NCI activities over Fiscal Years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Much of the variation from year to year reflects programmatic or administrative changes in NCI's work.
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