The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, in collaboration with the Hopkins Oncology Center, has received a five-year, $3.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to establish an innovative cancer genetics network in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Hopkins is one of less than a dozen institutions nationwide charged with establishing a national resource for genetic research, genetic testing and patient education. The network's infrastructure is designed to investigate the genetic basis of cancer susceptibility and integrate the new findings into patient care. The network also will address the ethical and legal issues associated with inherited cancer risk.
NCI is calling these networks the largest virtual collaborative effort dedicated to the study of cancer genetics. "These cancer genetics networks will create a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborative structure that will enable the participating institutions to draw upon each other and to have access to research resources, information, and expertise beyond the scope of any single institution," says NCI Director Richard Klausner, M.D.
The Hopkins-based network already includes dozens of hospitals and physicians in the region with plans to attract many more. Additionally, people with strong family histories of cancer may voluntarily enroll to participate in future educational and clinical studies. "Our initial goal is to establish a confidential registry of people with strong family histories of cancer," says Gloria Petersen, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology and oncology and network principal investigator. "Our long-term goal is to use what we learn to improve therapies, and ideally, to develop cancer prevention strategies for the general population," she says.
Hopkins was awarded the grant in part due to its nationally recognized
programs in cancer genetics research and its Cancer Risk Assessment Program,
which provides g
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Contact: Karin Twilde-Sheifer or Amy Heaps
(410)955-1287
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
3-Aug-1998