The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to solicit applications for Connecting Underrepresented Populations to Clinical Trials (CUSP2CT) U24 Data, Evaluation and Coordinating Center (DECC). The DECC is intended to support CUSP2CT, a program designed to increase referral to NCI-supported clinical trials (CTs) among underrepresented racial/ethnic (R/E) minority populations who experience disproportionately higher rates of incidence, morbidity, and mortality for numerous cancer types in comparison to Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). They are well-documented underserved groups whose cancer screening and CT participation rates are disproportionately low. CUSP2CT is a program that will implement and evaluate multilevel and culturally tailored outreach and education interventions with the primary goal of increasing referral and ultimately, accrual of underrepresented R/E minority populations, to NCI-supported CTs (National Clinical Trial Network (NCTN), NCI's Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), and Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN)). The proposed CUSP2CT Program/Network will be comprised of 4-8 local multidisciplinary and integrated U01 grantee sites and a U24 Data, Evaluation & Coordinating Center (DECC).
Applications should address cancer health disparities (CHD), by employing an integrated network of local multidisciplinary and integrated partners that include community health educators (CHEs), lay health advisers (LHAs), community members, healthcare providers, and researchers, working in coordination to educate and refer R/E minority populations about NCI-supported CTs, and increase awareness about CTs among health care providers. This will require outreach and education interventions at the clinical trial site, provider, and/or patient levels. Specifically, the DECC will support the data and evaluation activities and coordinate a learning collaborative related to the U01 CUSP2CT Grantee Site program (companion RFA CA-21-057). CUSP2CT DECC will provide experienced project management for CUSP2CT Network activities, which include data management, i.e. receipt and warehousing, and analysis from U01 sites. The DECC will lead the collaborative efforts to identify and conduct shared metrics and measures required for program evaluation, identify effective interventions and develop recommendations based on the data. Consequently, the DECC will receive, on a quarterly basis from the U01 sites, all common data elements and all program evaluation-related data including qualitative data such as interviews and focus groups. The DECC will coordinate and facilitate meetings, both virtually and in-person, support manuscript development and publications, and disseminate findings to key stakeholders and the broader community.