In its fifth year of a five-year grant within The Baptist Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) has shown a significant increase in performance since its start in 2014.
NCORP brings cancer research studies and results to patients in a variety of community and rural settings across the U.S. The Baptist NCORP provides a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-supported network of clinical trials to the unique patient population receiving care at the Baptist Cancer Center. The Baptist Cancer Center is specifically designated as a minority/under-served site because these groups make up more than 30% of the population served.
“In year 3 of the grant, we performed in the 90th percentile of all sites, exceeding our minimum of 80 credits,” said Dr. Liset Taybo, clinical research director for The Baptist Cancer Center. “In this past year, not only did we exceed our credit minimum, we were also one of the top accruing sites for three of our clinical trials. We now have 41 NCORP trials open, with 15 new trials since last year.”
Dr. Taybo said the goal is to continue to build on the progressive work of the Baptist NCORP, as well as expand the clinical trial portfolio across disease types – lung, breast, hematology, gastroenterology and genitourinary – as well as trials applicable to all disease groups, such as tissue procurement studies or targeted therapy trials.
The Baptist Cancer Center recently submitted a request for application to the NCI to renew the NCORP grant for six more years. The center will know by next fall if its grant will be renewed.
If you or someone you know can benefit from participating in any of the center’s NCORP trials, please visit http://www.baptistcancercenter.com/research or call 901-226-1366.
