A significant and expanding resource for HSPH faculty who want assistance in conducting cancer research is available in the Longwood Medical Area.

The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) helps cancer investigators form collaborations and conduct research. The DF/HCC expanded the focus of the Dana-Farber Cancer Center to encompass all Harvard cancer-related research efforts. In 2000, the center received a five-year, $50 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.

The center includes HSPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School (HMS), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Brigham and Women’s, Children’s, and Massachusetts General Hospitals.

Membership is open to all HSPH and HMS faculty who are principal investigators or project leaders on nationally peer-reviewed cancer-related research grants; or are investigators participating in clinical cancer research through protocol development and/or execution; or are newly independent investigators at the instructor level or above engaged in cancer-related research.

DF/HCC members have expertise in basic, clinical or population science. Research is carried out in 16 "programs" divided according to whether they are discipline-based, such as cancer imaging, or disease-based, such as leukemia.

Other programs are in development.

The center also offers 19 "core facilities" that share resources among members. For example, a DF/HCC member could be assigned a biostatistician from the "Biostatistical Science Core," saving time and funding by eliminating a search for a statistician.

"The DF/HCC offers the opportunity for people to make use of great resources that can help cancer research and to belong to a group that pulls people together from multiple disciplines so they can work on common problems," said Nancy Mueller, associate director for population science at DF/HCC and a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH. "It just facilitates research tremendously."


"What Can The "Population Cores" Do For DF/HCC Members


Community Practice Laboratory
Director: Suzanne Fletcher, MD
617-509-9975
Suzanne_fletcher@harvardpilgrim.org

The Community Practice Laboratory Core provides access to the members, health care providers and computerized health-care information of members of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the largest HMO in New England. The HMO has approximately 770,000 members and 19,000 physicians. The core also provides access to computerized medical records of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. The core aids studies in real-life primary care and oncology practices among patients across ages, ethnicities, risks and co-morbidities.

For each project, core staff will help investigators conduct preliminary computer runs, contact personnel and plan logistics. They will also identify a co-investigator at Harvard Pilgrim and assist with obtaining approval for the project by the Office of Research Administration at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention.



Health Communication
Director: Karen Emmons, PhD
617-632-2188
karen_emmons@dfci.harvard.edu

The Health Communication Core helps researchers inform, educate, recruit and retain patients for research studies. The core offers consultations on topics such as targeting an audience, planning and implementing focus groups and developing marketing plans. In addition, the core offers services such as writing, editing, graphic design and printing. The core can help with something as simple as designing a single-page flyer or with something as complex as developing and executing a comprehensive communication strategy, including surveys and a full complement of promotional and educational materials.



Measurement
Director: Laura Kubzansky, PhD
617-432-3589
lkubzans@hsph.harvard.edu

Core faculty offer free help in determining the advantages and disadvantages of measurement tools at the study design phase, assisting in grant and manuscript preparation and responding to reviewer comments on both grant proposals and manuscripts. Advice is available on a wide range of measurement issues, including clinical epidemiology, with a focus on clinical measurement; physical activity and diet assessment; biomarkers; psychosocial measures; geocoding; socioeconomic measures; and general survey methods.



Rapid Case Identification Unit
Director: Nancy Mueller, ScD
617-432-4576
nmueller@hsph.harvard.edu

The Rapid Case Identification Unit supports epidemiological and clinical research, including clinical trials by DF/HCC investigators. The unit can provide rapid case identification for IRB-approved studies; provide assistance with IRB approvals, medical records review, retrieval of pathology specimens with appropriate approval; and identify population controls from the greater Boston area.




Biostatistical Science
Director: David Harrington, PhD
617-632-2450
dph@hsph.harvard.edu

The Biostatistical Science Core offers expertise for the planning, conduct, analysis and reporting of clinical trials; epidemiological- and population-based studies; studies in the genetic susceptibility of cancer; and experiments in basic research in cancer biology. The staff consults about database design and management of clinical research data. The core also offers computing for data analysis, scientific graphics and education about study design, data collection and statistical methods.



High-Throughput Polymorphism Detection
Director: David Hunter, ScD
617-525-2755
david.hunter@channing.harvard.edu

The High-Throughput Polymorphism Detection Core helps investigators who are conducting molecular analyses of germ-line and somatic DNA collected as part of a population sciences investigation. This core provides high-throughput assays of specific gene mutations and polymorphisms when specific nucleotide alterations are of interest. The core offers polymorphism detection methods that are accurate, are capable of daily sample throughputs in the range of hundreds of samples, and can produce output in magnetically readable form.

For more information about DF/HCC, please contact Nancy Mueller at nmueller@hsph.harvard.edu. A web site is also available at www.dfhcc.harvard.edu.