The Lance Armstrong Foundation has awarded a $1.25 million grant to the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute to improve the care and quality of life of cancer survivors.
The five-year grant will help Ohio State:
- develop a cancer survivorship center
- bolster cancer research efforts in the area of survivorship
- expand educational and support services for cancer survivors.
- create adult survivorship clinics
Ohio State a Survivorship
Center of Excellence
Ohio State’s cancer center is one of seven cancer centers at leading medical institutions that comprise the LAF’s Livestrong Survivorship Center of Excellence Network. The network provides essential survivorship services and increases the effectiveness of survivorship care through research, the development of new interventions and sharing of best practices.
Dr. Charles L. Shapiro, director of breast medical oncology at Ohio State, will direct the new survivorship center. Electra D. Paskett, associate director for population sciences at Ohio State, will be the co-director.
“Cancer survivors have unique medical, psychosocial and educational needs, and dedicated efforts to address those needs and disseminate information to cancer survivors, health care providers and the public are of paramount importance,” says Shapiro. He is also co-chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) task force on survivorship guidelines and a member of a committee on cancer survivors with ASCO, the nation’s largest organization of medical oncologists.
Survivorship growth has tripled
With advances in detection and treatment, the number of cancer survivors in the United States has more than tripled to almost 10 million in the past 30 years, according to the National Cancer Institute. With more survivors comes the need for better post-treatment medical care to improve their quality of life, Shapiro says.
The grant will allow Ohio State cancer researchers to learn more about the psychosocial, physical and treatment-related problems faced by survivors, Paskett says. Areas of focus will include obesity and energy balance, symptom intervention and nutritional chemoprevention.
The grant will help expand the educational and supportive services offered at The James through its JamesCare for Life programs, and strengthen community-based partnerships with OSU East Hospital and the Holzer Center for Cancer Care, a clinic in Gallipolis, Ohio, that serves a region of Appalachia.
Increased education helps patients become survivors
“Our focus is on both the best treatments for cancer patients and the best aftercare for survivors,” Paskett says. “This will truly elevate Ohio State’s research and educational efforts to help patients become survivors.”
Other members of the Livestrong Survivorship Center of Excellence Network include Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of California, Los Angeles; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York; and University of Colorado Cancer Center, Denver.
“This grant gives us the opportunity to integrate and enhance our own efforts, while also connecting us with other leading institutions across the country that are also doing outstanding work to improve cancer survivorship,” Shapiro says.
