NCI awards $4.4M grant to Virginia cancer center

The National Cancer Institute awarded a $4.4 million, 5-year renewable grant to the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center in support of a statewide network for clinical cancer research.

The granted is intended to bring state-of-the-art clinical trials to minority communities while addressing disparities in cancer research.

Eight community hospitals and oncology practices joined with VCI Massey Cancer Center on the grant application, many of which had partnered with the center in the past to spread research and resources throughout Virginia. Headed by Massey, this network of facilities will focus on providing cancer patients, particularly minority and underserved patients, access to prevention, early detection and treatment clinical trials and cancer care delivery research.

“The grant establishes VCI Massey Cancer Center as a NCI-sanctioned headquarters for what is essentially a statewide network for clinical trials here in Virginia,” Charles Geyer Jr., MD, associate director for clinical research at Massey Cancer Center, said in a press release.

“It will extend innovative cancer clinical research to a large base of community sites, provide opportunities for minority and medically underserved individuals to participate in cancer research and enhance the focus on disparities within clinical trials and cancer care delivery research studies,” Geyer said.

The network serves a catchment area that encompasses 3.8 million residents of Virginia, as well as some in West Virginia. The catchment area has a large minority population, with average household income below the state median. In total, the network involves more than 90 physicians, 36 nurse practitioners and 21 clinics.

The other goal of the research program is to better integrate cancer care delivery research, studies that examine how social factors such as financing systems or provider/patient behavior affect cancer outcomes, into Massey’s overall clinical trials program. This is expected to help identify potential drivers of cancer disparities and outline possible approaches to alleviating them.

“This federal support combined with the state’s support helps enable Massey to lead a statewide pursuit of research advances that will ultimately alleviate suffering from cancer,” Gordon D. Ginder, MD, director of Massey Cancer Center, said in the release.

Massey is one of 12 institutions in the nation to receive this type of grant that fosters access to cancer research for minority and medically underserved patients.