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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at 1:00 pm (ET)
Cancer Chemoprevention: A Discussion of Benefits and Risks
Featuring Dr. Worta McCaskill-Stevens, Medical Oncologist and Program Director of the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention; Dr. Larry Wickerham, Associate Chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP); Dr. Victor Vogel, Director of Magee Women's Breast Cancer Program at the University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Howard Parnes, Chief of the Prostate and Urologic Cancer, NCI Division of Cancer Prevention; Ms. Ann Marie Gugger, a patient advocate who serves on the Participant Advisory Board of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP); Mr. Julius Jones, patient advocate who is involved with the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) and SELECT National Patient Advisory Board (NPAB); and Dr. Leslie Ford, Associate Clinical Director of the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention.
Dr. McCaskill-Stevens began by discussing the central goal of chemoprevention, to reduce cancer incidence. Highlighting numerous studies being conducted with women at a high risk for developing breast cancer, Dr. Wickerham and Dr. Vogel mentioned various drugs and the benefits and risks associated with those drugs in breast cancer chemoprevention. Next, Dr. Parnes talked about several large prostate cancer chemoprevention trials and the reduction in the prevalence of prostate cancer that occurred as a result of these trials. Patient advocates Ms. Ann Marie Gugger and Mr. Julius (Jay) Jones spoke of the importance of participating in clinical trials and the empowerment that knowledge and action can bring in facing cancer. Finally, Dr. Leslie Ford spoke of the common themes which tied these studies together, including the positive benefits of intervening to prevent, arrest, or delay cancer and the knowledge generated about who is most and least likely to benefit from such studies.
For more information, please visit: http://www.cancer.gov/prevention/
Tuesday, November 7, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. (ET)
What Advocates Should Know About Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The Director of NCI's Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM), Dr. Jeff White, discussed the basics of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for cancer patients. Dr. White also gave an overview of the research funded on CAM through his office. Patient advocate Ms. Martha Powell discussed how she has been involved in CAM work and with OCCAM. Callers asked questions regarding their concerns about CAM.
For more information please visit http://www.cancer.gov/cam/health_pdq.html.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. (ET)
The Impact of Nanotechnology Research on Cancer Patients
NCI experts Dr. Piotr Grodzinski and Mr. Travis Earles with the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer discussed NCI's initiatives in nanotechnology and how they might affect patient care in the future. Advocate Mr. Wayland Eppard described his involvement in the Alliance's nanotechnology initiatives. NCI is engaged in efforts to harness the power of nanotechnology to radically change the way we diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer through the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a comprehensive initiative encompassing the public and private sectors.
For more information on the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer: http://nano.cancer.gov/meetings_events/events_10_31_06.asp
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. (ET)
Update for the Advocacy Community from NCI Director Dr. John Niederhuber
During the kick-off call for the Fall 2006 "Understanding NCI: Toll-Free Teleconference" series, NCI's newly appointed Director, Dr. John Niederhuber, gave an update for the cancer advocacy community on plans for his tenure as the NCI Director, the challenges faced by a possible budget decrease, and the importance of advocates in cancer research. Dr. Niederhuber spoke of the new technologies that are being developed which will accelerate cancer research, as well as the tremendous opportunities for young scientists to get involved in biomedical research. He also stressed that despite the NCI budget constraints, there has never been a time of greater scientific opportunity.
The call was moderated by Mr. Doug Ulman, chair of the NCI Director's Consumer Liaison Group. He also addressed the question "What is the role of the advocacy community in the future of cancer research?" Mr. Ulman described the mission and goals of the DCLG, as well as the need for an ongoing dialogue between consumer advocates and NCI leadership. Further, comments were made regarding the Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program, NCI Listens and Learns website, and NCI's survivorship research. CARRA member, and DCLG Vice-Chair, Dr. Beverly Laird, set the tone for the teleconference with remarks on "What I've learned about cancer research as an advocate and member of the DCLG."
For more information about DCLG, please visit: http://dclg.cancer.gov/.
For more information about CARRA, please visit: http://carra.cancer.gov/.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. (ET)
TCGA to Study Lung, Ovarian, and Brain Tumors
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) announced the first three cancers that will be studied in the pilot phase of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. The cancers to be studied in the TCGA Pilot Project are lung, brain (glioblastoma), and ovarian. These cancers, which collectively account for more than 210,000 cancer cases each year in the United States, were selected because of the availability of biospecimen collections that met TCGA's strict scientific, technical, and ethical requirements.
This call featured Dr. Francis Collins, NHGRI Director, Dr. Anna Barker, NCI Deputy Director, Dr. Carolyn Compton, Director of the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research; and Dr. Beverly Laird, Vice-Chair of the NCI Director's Consumer Liaison Group discussing the pilot project. To view the press release please see http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/TCGAcancertypes and for more information on the pilot project, please see http://cancergenome.nih.gov/.
Thursday, June 29, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Translating Cancer Discovery into Improved Health Outcomes
NCI's Office of Education and Special Initiatives
Featuring Ms. Lenora Johnson, Director of the Office of Education and Special Initiatives; Ms. Rose Mary Padberg, Chief, Cancer Education Branch, Office of Education and Special Initiatives; Ms. Sona Thakkar, Senior Public Health Educator, Office of Education and Special Initiatives; and advocate: Mr. Sanford Jeames, Patient Education Coordinator, Division of Urology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
During the final call of the Spring 2006 "Understanding NCI: Toll-Free Teleconference" series, staff of NCI's Office of Education and Special Initiatives (OESI) discussed how they work to develop, implement, and evaluate numerous cancer education programs. Ms. Lenora Johnson opened the call by providing an overview of OESI projects and activities. Ms. Sona Thakkar then explained the meticulous process involved with creating educational programs and products and bringing them to completion. Ms. Rose Mary Padberg then discussed how OESI provides education to various populations across the cancer continuum. Finally, Mr. Sanford Jeames shared his involvement with and participation in the development and review of OESI educational materials through the Consumer Advocates in Research and Research Related Activities (CARRA) program.
For more information about OESI, please visit: http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/oesi
To download free promotional materials on NCI's education programs, visit OESI's partnership web page at: http://www.ncipoet.org
To order free NCI education materials, visit the NCI's Publications Locator at: http://cancer.gov/publications
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Why caBIG is Important to Advocates
Featuring Kenneth H. Buetow, Ph.D., Associate Director for Bioinformatics and Information Technology and Chief, Laboratory of Population Genetics, Center for Cancer Research; and Greg Bielawski, caBIGTM Patient Advocate and Member, NCI Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities
In May’s call, Kenneth H. Buetow, Ph.D., Associate Director for Bioinformatics and Information Technology and Chief, Laboratory of Population Genetics, Center for Cancer Research; and Mr. Greg Bielawski, caBIGTM Patient Advocate and Member, NCI Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities discussed the cancer Biomedical Informatics GridTM, or caBIGTM. Dr. Buetow provided a general overview of caBIGTM - a voluntary network or grid connecting individuals and institutions – and explained how this “World Wide Web of cancer research” will help to achieve the program’s goal of speeding the delivery of innovative approaches for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Mr. Bielawski supplemented this information by sharing his experience with caBIGTM as an advocate.
For more information about caBIG, please visit: https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/.
To view the caBIG™ advocate poster and the advocate statement of goals and purposes, please visit: https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/advocatetelecon
Thursday, April 27th 2006 at 2:00 p.m. (ET)
“Tissue Banking: An Introduction to the Issues Surrounding Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research”
Featuring Carolyn Compton, MD, Ph.D. Director of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research; and Paula Kim, NCI Board of Scientific Advisors Member/Advocate
In April’s call, Dr. Carolyn Compton, Director of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research, along with Paula Kim, NCI Board of Scientific Advisors Member/Advocate, provided participants with information about biorepositories and biospecimen research. Dr. Compton discussed the importance of high-quality tissue samples (biospecimen) for research, delineated the process of tissue banking, and explained the standards and guidelines that are currently in place regarding patient protection. Paula Kim offered insight into biospecimen research from an advocate’s perspective. The teleconference communicated how, through biospecimen research, “we are able to extract the secrets of the disease in order to improve cancer care and ultimately change medicine for the better” (Dr. Carolyn Compton).
Please visit the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research website at: http://biospecimens.cancer.gov/index.asp
For more information about donating tissue for research, please visit: http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/resources/providing-tissue.pdf
Thursday, March 16th at 4:00 p.m. (ET)
“A Role for Advocates in NCI’s Work: The CARRA Program”
Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities
Featuring Olivia Bartlett, Ph.D., Chief, Research Programs Review Branch, NCI Division of Extramural Activities; Louise Cunningham, Public Health Educator, NCI Office of Education and Special Initiatives; James L. Omel, M.D., Educator, International Myeloma Foundation and Member, NCI’s CARRA Program; and Jane Jacobs, CARRA Program Development Manager, NCI Office of Liaison Activities
March’s call featured Olivia Bartlett, Ph.D., Louise Cunningham, Jane Jacobs, and James L. Omel, M.D., as they discussed NCI’s CARRA program. Jane Jacobs explained how NCI created the Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program, and how it draws upon the experience of people affected by cancer to represent the views of cancer survivors and family members in NCI's daily activities, and described how CARRA members are recruited. Olivia Bartlett described training and involving the CARRA members in the NCI peer review process, as they participate in evaluating study participant factors in proposals for cancer research involving human subjects. Finally, Jim Omel provided an overview of the CARRA program from a participant’s perspective, and Louise Cunningham offered examples of how CARRA members are utilized by the NCI in the development and review of cancer education materials.
For further information about the CARRA program, please refer to the following link: http://carra.cancer.gov/about/whatiscarra/factsheet
For further information about the Office of Education and Special Initiatives, please refer to the following link: http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/oesi
Tuesday, February 28th 2006 at 2 p.m. (ET)
What Advocates Should Know about the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN)
Featuring Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director of the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN); and Mr. Bruce Mabrito, Director of the Central Proposal Office for the Southwest Research Network and active patient/advocate
February’s call featured Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, NCI’s Director of the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN), and Mr. Bruce Mabrito, the Director of the Central Proposal Office for the Southwest Research Network as well as an active patient/advocate. The combined expertise of Dr. Srivastava and Mr. Mabrito provided a comprehensive description of the EDRN (a consortium of more 300 investigators and 40 private or academic institutions), which was formed specifically to bring a collaborative approach to the discovery and development of early detection biomarkers or indicators of early cancer. EDRN is now a driving force behind intergovernmental, inter-institutional, and public-private collaboration-building for the rapid advancement of biomarkers and early detection science and the translation to clinical applications. Visit the EDRN site at: www.cancer.gov/edrn.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. (ET)
New Federal Health Initiative to Improve Cancer Therapy
Patients will Benefit from Rapid Development and Delivery of New Cancer Treatments
Featuring Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Janet Woodcock, M.D., Deputy Commissioner for Operations, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and Anna D. Barker, Ph.D., Deputy Director, National Cancer Institute
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on February 14, 2006, the Oncology Biomarker Qualification Initiative (OBQI) - an agreement to collaborate on improving the development of cancer therapies and the outcomes for cancer patients through biomarker development and evaluation. Biomarkers are biologic indicators of disease or therapeutic effects, which can be measured through dynamic imaging tests, as well as tests on blood, tissue and other biologic samples. This initiative is the first time these three Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies have focused together on biomarkers as a way of speeding the development and evaluation of cancer therapies. To view the News Release: http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/OBQI.
A transcript of the advocacy portion of this teleconference is available in its entirety for download.
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