Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: Cancer Prevention Institute of California Wins $34 Million Contract to Track and Study Cancer Rates Data vital to measuring nation's progress in cancer prevention and treatment, National Cancer Institute division director says FREMONT, CA (August 4, 2010) – The Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) has just secured its third contract to run the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program for the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. The $34.3 million contract provides significant support for CPIC’s operation of the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry (GBACR), which collects and manages data on all cancer cases diagnosed in the nine Greater Bay Area counties. It also funds the organization’s dissemination of the data for research and its own surveillance research activities, which use cancer and population data to better understand patterns of cancer occurrence, treatment and survival for the Greater Bay Area, California, the US and other countries. As part of CPIC’s mission to prevent cancer and reduce its burden where it cannot yet be prevented, the award-winning GBACR tracks cancer rates in its catchment region that includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties (since 1973) and Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties (since 1992). The new contract, which began on August 1, 2010, extends CPIC’s GBACR operations and surveillance research efforts for seven additional years, through July of 2017. The GBACR also receives funding from the state of California as part of the California Cancer Registry. “The National Cancer Institute’s SEER Program, the source for all statistical cancer reporting in the United States, is a powerful research tool, serving as the basis for thousands of studies,” said Dr. Robert Croyle, Director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, in which the SEER program resides. “SEER provides the data needed to measure our nation’s progress in cancer prevention and treatment, and to guide cancer research for the future. The broad and expanding scope of the SEER Program and the critical research it supports would not be possible without the work of the numerous regional registries such as the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry which help to collect these vital data.” “With this important SEER support, the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry will continue to collect high-quality information about all new cancers in the region, forming the critical basis for our progress toward CPIC’s cancer prevention mission,” said Dr. Sally Glaser, Chief Executive Officer of CPIC. “Using this information to understand why cancers develop, and why some groups in our community suffer disproportionately large burdens of cancer, we can work to prevent cancers and help reduce disparities in cancers that cannot yet be prevented.” More than a cancer case count, SEER data allow public health officials and researchers in California and beyond to monitor cancer throughout the population. An important part of this work is to identify disparities among under-served and high-risk populations. Understanding where disparities occur allows for interventions that can ensure all Californians benefit equally from advances that combat cancer. CPIC’s GBACR data allow researchers to efficiently examine patterns of cancer incidence, death, survivorship, secondary health outcomes, risk factors, screening, treatment, and prevention – with sample sizes and population diversity unmatched by other existing resources. About the Cancer Prevention Institute of California ### |
