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The Northern California Cancer Center (NCCC), located in Fremont, California, is a center for cancer research, examining the incidence of cancer among general and specific groups of people at the local, state, and national level, and for the dissemination of cancer screening information.

NCCC studies help scientists and public health agencies understand when ethnic, racial, or other demographic-based variables result in health disparities wherein one group has a higher incidence of cancer compared to other groups of people. For example, NCCC research has demonstrated the higher incidence of colorectal cancer among certain Asian populations. The organization was also instrumental in identifying and understanding factors leading to the markedly higher incidence of breast cancer among women in the San Francisco Bay Area's Marin County, California.

Contents 1 NCCC Scientists 2 History 3 Major Collaborations 4 References 5 External links

[edit] NCCC Scientists

NCCC typically has between twelve and fifteen doctoral level scientists working under the direction of a Chief Scientific Officer. Most of the organization’s scientists have degrees in epidemiology, demography, biostatistics, or public health. To support their research, they compete individually and collectively for major government awards, and for private sector research awards as these become available. The scientist designated as the study’s principal investigator assembles a team of experts, such as demographers or biostatisticians, who will conduct the investigation and when a grant or contract is awarded based on peer review, other study staff, such as field staff, are hired. When the study is completed, the results are disseminated, primarily by being published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, such as Journal of the American Medical Association. NCCC scientists also hold faculty appointments at Stanford University’s School of Medicine.

[edit] History

The organization was founded in response to President Richard M. Nixon’s avowed “war on cancer.” By signing The National Cancer Act of 1971^[1], Nixon strengthened the National Cancer Institute, marshalling resources to “plan and develop an expanded, intensified, and coordinated cancer research program encompassing the programs of the National Cancer Institute, related programs of the other research institutes, and other Federal and non-Federal programs.”^[2]

In 1974, the deans of the schools of medicine at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco joined with the California Division of the American Cancer Society to form the Northern California Cancer Program to support regional clinical trials. The organization identifies its founders as: Clayton Rich, M.D., Stanford University; Julius Krevans, M.D., the University of California, San Francisco; Robert Murphy, American Cancer Society; B. J. Feigenbaum, Esq., Steinhart & Falconer; and Saul Rosenberg, M.D., Stanford University. Dr. Saul Rosenberg, a Stanford oncologist, was the NCCC’s first Director, serving from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1985. In 1983, NCCC took over the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry activities in northern California. To reflect its new orientation to population science, the organization changed its name to the Northern California Cancer Center in 1986 and began its work in cancer epidemiology and prevention. Today, the NCCC partners with independent scientists, academic institutions, and health organizations in the U.S. and around the world to examine the path of cancer through distinct populations.

Current Activities
Most of the organization’s research activities derive from federal government grants and contracts to study some aspect of cancer, either site specific cancers (such as breast cancer or prostate cancer) or cancers in specific populations (low-income women of color, Vietnamese people, or nail salon workers, for example). The NCCC also operates the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry, which is part of the California Cancer Registry.

In 2007, the NCCC formally entered into an agreement with Stanford University to supply epidemiological research and community outreach to the Stanford Cancer Center.

[edit] Major Collaborations

Stanford Cancer Center
The NCCC recently formed a partnership with the Stanford Cancer Center at Stanford University Medical Center that played a role in the center’s recent designation as a NCI-designated Cancer Center. The NCCC contributes epidemiology, prevention and outreach programs to the partnership.^[3]

Breast Cancer Family Registry
The NCCC also collaborates in the Breast Cancer Family Registry, an international consortium established in 1995 by the National Cancer Institute. To date, over 15,000 breast cancer families from the US, Canada and Australia have been enrolled, including over 3,000 from the San Francisco Bay Area, most of who are from racial/ethnic minority populations.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Northern California Cancer Center Official Website