DCCPS Digest, October 2024

Program Updates

Behavioral Research 

Visit our new Cancer Stigma as a Global Public Health Priority webpage! Highlighting the importance of understanding, measuring, and reducing cancer stigma as critical to reducing the global cancer burden and promoting health equity, the Behavioral Research Program has launched a new webpage including funding opportunities, publications, and other resources related to cancer stigma research.

Epidemiology and Genomics  

The ability of research groups to access data and specimens from multiple sources can be key to success. The October issue of NCI’s Cancer Epidemiology News features biospecimen collections that may be of interest to cancer epidemiologists. It also includes links to new NCI and NIH funding opportunities relevant to cancer epidemiology, grants policy announcements, news and blog posts, and more. 

Health Disparities and Health Equity  

NCI’s Early Investigator Advancement Program (EIAP) is accepting applications until November 1, 2024. EIAP is an NCI-wide program that aims to assist cancer researchers and clinician scientists to attain an R01 or R-type equivalent funding. NCI is particularly interested in encouraging applications from individuals who have a strong interest in cancer or cancer health disparities research, who can commit to the program requirements, those who have previously applied, and individuals from diverse backgrounds including those from groups underrepresented in the cancer research workforce. For more information, visit https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/organization/cche/diversity-training/eiap.  

Healthcare Delivery Research  

Mark your calendars for November 21, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., for Session 2 of a webinar series that will engage subject matter experts in discussion of opportunities and gaps in healthcare delivery research. Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) have a critical and still changing role in the ever-evolving landscape of cancer care and research. Over 80% of oncology practices use APPs, yet APP practice regulations vary widely across states, team-based practice models that incorporate APPs vary widely, and high-quality evidence to inform regulations or practice models is surprisingly limited. Existing workforce evidence clearly demonstrates, however, that increased incorporation of APPs is critical to addressing oncology workforce shortages and to addressing inequities in care access. This webinar, “Advanced Practice Providers’ Impact on Cancer Care Delivery: Bridging Research and Practice,” aims to examine the integral role and competencies of APPs in clinical trials research and explore current research initiatives led by APPs in oncology, including studies on treatment efficacy, patient satisfaction, and healthcare disparities. 

Implementation Science  

The 2025 in-person CCIS Annual Meeting - which takes place February 26-28, 2025, in Winston-Salem, NC - will focus on facilitating the adoption and systematic uptake of publicly available implementation science tools and resources across the cancer control continuum in community and clinical settings. The meeting provides an opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and investigators to collaborate and advance the field of implementation science in cancer. Learn more and register. 

Surveillance  

The Surveillance Research Program recently created a new Stat Facts sheet on invasive lobular carcinoma: https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/ilc.html. Invasive lobular carcinoma is a type of invasive breast cancer that begins in the lobules (milk glands) of the breast and spreads to surrounding normal tissue. It can also spread through the blood and lymph systems to other parts of the body.  

Survivorship  

There are over 2.1 million cancer survivors living in the United States who were diagnosed during their adolescent and young adult (AYA) years, according to a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Most of these survivors, who were diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 and 39 years old, are now more than 10 years from diagnosis. These findings provide the first estimate of the number of cancer survivors living in the United States who were diagnosed as an AYA, as well as more information about this survivor population. 

The Office of Cancer Survivorship recently released a toolkit of resources to guide health systems as they utilize the National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care to assess and enhance their survivorship services. Learn more here: https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/ocs/special-focus-areas/national-standards-cancer-survivorship-care 

Funding Opportunities  

Please visit https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/funding/funding-opportunities to view a listing of cancer control and population sciences funding opportunities that are currently accepting applications.   

New this month:  

RFA-MD-24-010, Environmental Health Disparities Centers (P50, Clinical Trial Optional) 

Scaling-up and Maintaining Evidence-based Interventions to Maximize Impact on Cancer (SUMMIT)  

• RFA-CA-25-009, Lung Cancer Screening (UG3/UH3, Clinical Trial Required)  
• RFA-CA-25-010, Tobacco Use Treatment for Cancer Survivors (UG3/UH3, Clinical Trial Required) 

PAR-24-304, Revision Applications for Validation of Biomarker Assays Developed Through NIH-Supported Research Grants (R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

Assay Validation of High Quality Markers for Clinical Studies in Cancer 

• PAR-25-074 (UH2/UH3, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 
• PAR-25-075 (UH3, Clinical Trials Not Allowed) 

PAR-25-082, Co-infection and Cancer (R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

Epidemiologic Research on Emerging Risk Factors and Liver Cancer Susceptibility

• PA-25-121 (R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 
• PA-25-123 (R21, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

NOT-DK-24-029, Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Analysis of Existing Linked Datasets to Understand the Relationship between Housing Program Participation and Risk for Chronic Diseases and Other Conditions (R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

NOT-CA-25-004, NOSI: Administrative Supplements for Assessing Capacity to Address Obesity for Cancer Prevention and Control 

NOT-OD-25-015, NOSI: Administrative Supplement for Research and Capacity Building Efforts Related to Bioethical Issues (Admin Supp, Clinical Trial Optional) 

NOT-DK-24-026, Request for Information (RFI): Research Strategies for Addressing Obesity Heterogeneity

Upcoming Events  

Explore upcoming events supported by DCCPS at https://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/events. Coming up in November: 

• October 31 – Social Connections and Cancer Survivorship (BRP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Webinar Series) 

• November 4 - Decoding the Cellular Aging Landscape: Insights into Cancer Susceptibility and Treatment Tolerance (Perspectives on Cancer and Aging) 

• November 12-15 – 2024 NCI Cohort Consortium Annual Meeting 

• November 12 – Meeting the Genetic Information Needs of Cancer Survivors and Their Families (OCS Director's Series)

• November 14 – Pre-application Webinar for RFA-MD-24-010 (Notice of Funding Opportunity [NOFO]) 

• November 18 – Pre-Application Webinar: Administrative Supplements for Assessing Capacity to Address Obesity for Cancer Prevention and Control (Notice of Funding Opportunity [NOFO]) 

• November 20 – Cancer Research Efforts Focused on Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Populations Residing in the United States (Centering Equity in Cancer Research) 

• November 20 – HHEAR Exposomics Webinar: Climate Change and Exposomics  

• November 21 – Pre-Application Webinar: Tobacco, Alcohol, and Cannabis Policy Research for Health Equity (Notice of Funding Opportunity [NOFO]) 

• November 21 – Advanced Practice Providers' Impact on Cancer Care Delivery: Bridging Research and Practice (Healthcare Teams Cyber Discussion Series)