Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, www.northside.com/cancerinstitute
Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion, www.sjchs.org/cancer
American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org
National Institutes of Health, www.nih.gov/health/clinicaltrials/
CANCER STATISTICS
In 2014, there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed and 585,720 cancer deaths in the U.S.
Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the U.S., accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths.
Source: American Cancer Society
Georgia health institutions and researchers have been given a new tool to use in the fight against cancer.
The Northside Hospital Cancer Institute and the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion, which is part of the St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah, were recently awarded a five-year, $5.85 million grant that will allow more patients to participate in clinical trials, cancer research and treatment.
The grant was made through the National Cancer Institute's newly launched Community Oncology Research Program. In all, 53 grants were awarded to hospitals and researchers across the nation.
The Georgia Regents University Cancer Center was also awarded a five-year grant from NCI to focus on the minority and underserved community. GRU will work in partnership with the Morehouse School of Medicine, University Cancer and Blood Center in Athens and the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro.
What’s significant about this funding is that, in essence, it will bring the clinical trials to where people live and provide more information about how cancer patients can enroll in trials for treatments that might one day save lives.
“This community-based research program will give people throughout the state access to NCI-sponsored cancer trials,” said Patti Owen, director of oncology services at Northside’s cancer program. “Many times, people are diagnosed and treated in the community, but they don’t have access to the latest advance treatments and trials. They have to travel, leaving their homes and loved ones. A lot of times, this becomes not only a personal struggle, but a financial struggle.”
Georgia is ranked 25th in cancer incidence and 23rd in cancer deaths in the U.S. — and cancer remains the second leading cause of death in Georgia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This broadens the net, so to speak, to get to those underserved populations,” said Paul P. Hinchey, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s/Candler. And that, he said, means not only ethnic and racial minorities but also people who live in rural areas that might not typically be on the radar of large medical research facilities.
He estimates that 85 percent of cancer care takes place in community cancer centers, not the big research and treatment hubs in New York or Houston. “The NCI wants to get those clinical trials … into the neighborhoods where people live.
“If we can keep people in their beds at night, if we can keep them surrounded by family members and church support groups, then that is a very important factor in how they progress in handling their cancer.”
Brenda Riordan, a Duluth married mother of two, who was diagnosed with melanoma in July 2012, agrees.
The program will be a win-win for patients, said Riordan, who has undergone multiple surgeries for the cancer, which had metastasized. She’s tried to enroll in one clinical trial before, but it was closed by the time she found out about it.
“I think it creates more resources for patients to have access to clinical trial treatment,” said Riordan, a data integration coordinator at Northside. “I’m 17 miles from home, but you think about people who are in places like Gainesville. Now there will be treatments in their own backyards.”
Riordan is using a drug that was approved just a few years ago. She knows that she’s only able to benefit because someone else “had to try them out to determine the efficacy and safety of the drug. More clinical trials will just strengthen the knowledge base.”
There has been a big push to get diversity in clinical trials, including more women and minorities.
Part of that push includes reaching out to physicians to help spread the word about clinical trials and how to participate.
The Northside-St. Joseph's/Candler partnership also includes the Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education (Georgia CORE).
It will provide Georgians with 110 oncology clinical providers in 41 different locations throughout the state, as well as the clinical trial leadership and research management services of Georgia CORE.
Though the fight against cancer is far from over, health care officials said this new program will be a major step forward.
“We’re stronger working together than any one of us working alone,” Hinchey said.
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