The COE has developed the following resources to help investigators explore the cancer burden in our community.
ACC Catchment Explorer (ACE)
Developed by Peter E. Gabriel, MD, MSE, the Associate Director for Clinical Informatics, ACE is a web-based dashboard that uses Tableau software to visualize cancer incidence and mortality in the ACC catchment area. It enables researchers to easily analyze county-based cancer burdens stratified by disease, age, county, gender and race/ethnicity, directly and in comparison to national rates (data from CDC). ACE also makes it possible for members to explore ACC tumor registry data over the past several years.
To log into ACE, you must be on the UPHS Network or connect to it via VPN which can be accessed via: Penn Med Access and then searching for and logging into Tableau.
ACC Catchment Report
Developed by the COE, this is a comprehensive report containing valuable information on the cancer burden in our catchment area. Information includes overall cancer rates, morbidity and mortality statistics for all cancers, and behavioral/socioeconomic risk factors. This report is accessible to Penn faculty and staff via ^Penn Key authentication.
Cancer Clinical Trials Community Ambassador Training Program
ACC's Cancer Clinical Trials Community Ambassador Training Program aims to create cancer clinical trial community spokespersons and resources to increase awareness and access to cancer clinical trials in the diverse Philadelphia communities. Patients or community members interested in speaking with an ambassador or in undergoing training to become a cancer clinical trials ambassador may contact Abramson Cancer Center Office of Diversity at 215-349-5007.
ACC COE Pilot Funding for ACC investigators
Each year the ACC allocates $40,000 for a pilot study to ACC members to address a significant cancer burden issue within our catchment area. The current award uses community-engaged research methods to understand the effects of financial toxicity on patients with multiple myeloma. This research is led by Edward A. Stadtmauer, MD (Hematologic Malignancies).
Community Partner Human Subjects Protection Training Program
In certain circumstances, community partners may be considered investigators who are "engaged" in the research. The activities that qualify a collaborator as an investigator include:
- Interacting or intervening with research participants
- Consenting participants
- Participating in the collection of or having access to identifiable data
If a community collaborator is considered an investigator, then human subjects training is required. The U Penn CEAR Core developed the Community Partner Training program as a community-friendly alternative to fulfill training requirements. The training is easily accessible, free of charge, and open to all who are interested.
The Community Partner Training program is a collaboration between the CEAR Core of the UPenn CTSA and the UPenn Office of Regulatory Affairs, Human Research Protections. Community Partner Training is an online training program for community members who are engaged in human subjects' research. This training program is adapted from CIRTification, created by Emily Anderson, PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS).
The online training materials consist of text and audio files, online activities and short quizzes. Each person who completes the training receives a Certificate of Completion, which is valid for three years from the date completed.
The Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) of the University of Pennsylvania, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Thomas Jefferson University have all approved this training for use by community research partners and will accept a Community Partner Training completion certificate in lieu of a CITI training completion certificate for non-University affiliated community research partners.
Access the Community Partner Human Subjects Protection Training Program