Welcome to the POCRC Website

Clinical Core

Principal Investigators:

Charles Drescher, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Hisham Tamimi, MD, University of Washington

Access to potential research populations and associated clinical information is critical to the research and translational objectives of POCRC. Our Clinical Core is responsible for enrolling patients in POCRC studies, ensuring access to a large referral base of ovarian cancer patients in the region and to women at risk for ovarian cancer. The Clinical Core develops and implements protocols for recruiting, enrolling and tracking research participants and collecting epidemiological and clinical data to complete research objectives of SPORE projects and inter-SPORE collaborations. All information generated by the Clinical Core with respect to participant enrollment, consent, contact and epidemiological and clinical pathological data is managed by the POCRC informatics systems.

The core has developed a Physician Advisory Committee and a Patient Advocacy Group to facilitate interaction with physicians and health care providers and advocates throughout Washington State and Canada. These groups advise core investigators about issues pertaining to design and implementation of recruitment protocols and content of participant materials, and work to ensure the research program meets the needs of both the patient and community physician.

All information generated by the Clinical Core with respect to participant enrollment, consent, contact and epidemiological and clinical pathological data is entered into the POCRC informatics systems. All data entered into the system receives a secondary review for quality control purposes. The informatics systems generate for the Core data forms and follow up reminders for tracking participants enrolled by the Core in POCRC studies. Cancer patients sign medical consents that allow the Clinical Core to access their medical records for up to five years post surgery. Medical charts are reviewed by the research nurse quarterly to obtain CA125 measures and other indications that provide information about the woman’s health status. This Information helps to identify subjects for various POCRC research studies.

The specific aims of the Clinical Core are to:

Identify, recruit and enroll participants, and collect epidemiological and clinical data necessary to complete the research objectives of SPORE projects and inter-SPORE collaborations.
Develop and implement a Clinical Trials Research Support Network to support the development and conduct of SPORE Phase I clinical trials of adoptive immunotherapy (Adoptive Immunotherapy Project –PI: Cassian Yee) and future novel therapies resulting from SPORE research.
Establish a minority outreach network to increase the enrollment of minorities in the research.
Continued growth and development of the Patient Advocacy Group and Physician Advisory Committee to ensure that all SPORE research projects are responsive to the needs of the patient and community physicians and to translate the research findings to the community.

Clinical Core Publications:

Andersen MR, Schroeder T, Gaul M, Moinpour C, Urban N. Using a population-based cancer registry for recruitment of newly diagnosed patients with ovarian cancer. Am J Clin Oncol. 2005 Feb;28(1):17-20.

Andersen MR, Urban N, Ramsey S, Briss PA. Examining the cost-effectiveness of cancer screening promotion. Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;101 Suppl 5:1229-38.

Andersen MR, Nelson J, Peacock S, Giedzinska A, Dresher C, Bowen D, Urban N. Worry about ovarian cancer risk, and use of screening by high-risk women: how you recruit affects what you find. Am J Med Genet. 2004 Aug 30;129A(2):130-5.

Drescher CW, Nelson J, Peacock S, Andersen MR, McIntosh MW, Urban N. Compliance of average- and intermediate-risk women to semiannual ovarian cancer screening. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004 Apr;13(4):600-6.

Urban N, McIntosh MW, Andersen M, Karlan BY. Ovarian Cancer Screening. Hematol Oncol Clin N Am. 2003 Aug;17(4):989-1005, ix.

Urban N, McIntosh M, Clarke L, Jacobs I, Karlan B, Anderson G, Drescher C. Socioeconomics of ovarian cancer screening. Chapter in Ovarian Cancer 6, Oxford Press, February 2002.

Drescher C, Holt SK, Andersen MR, Anderson G, Urban N. Reported ovarian cancer screening among a population-based sample in Washington state. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 96(1): 70-4, 2000 Jul.


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