ACS CRP Governance

The mission of the Cancer Research Program is to integrate with the ACS Cancer Programs and lead research to improve the care of the person with cancer, in particular the surgical cancer patient. The vision of the CRP is to improve patient outcomes through data analysis, validation, and implementation of standards and research.

Chair, Cancer Research Program: Judy C. Boughey, MD, FACS
Senior Manager, Cancer Research Program: Amanda Francescatti, MS

The Cancer Research Program maintains two committees: the Standards Investigation and Validation (SIV) Committee and the Cancer Data Modeling (CDM) Committee.

CoC, NAPBC, NAPRC, and CSSP all work to set accreditation standards with the goal of improving patient care. One aim of the CRP is to validate the impact of standards, conduct research to help establish new standards and demonstrate the value of adherence to standards. We will achieve this through many mechanisms, including partnership with the CSSP to evaluate the impact of operative standards on patient outcomes. Another area of investigation is research on the impact of survivorship programs on patient experience. Members will have experience with cancer standards development/implementation.

The Cancer Data Modeling Committee will bring a team of modeling experts together to consider new approaches to explore and investigate the incorporation of diverse types of data (i.e., social determinants of health and evolving biologic marker data) and use of big data to drive the development of new clinical tools. It is expected that committee members will be familiar with large datasets such as SEER, NCDB, and clinical trials data and they will either have access to these data sets or be eligible to have access to these databases. The overarching goal of the CDM will be to develop new clinical tools (such as a survival calculator) and annual reports that identify trends in cancer care and outcomes across multiple disease sites. Members will have experience with large datasets such as SEER, NCDB, and clinical trial data, data mining, analytics, cross-sectional cancer investigations, and/or biologic modeling.

While the ACS Cancer Research Program has been conducting research in collaboration with the ACS Cancer Programs since its inception and is proud to have contributed to many advances including the Operative Standards for Cancer Surgery manuals, it has undergone re-invention and now seeks committee members. The vision of the CRP remains to improve patient outcomes and the commitment to work collaboratively with other Cancer Programs remains the same. However, under the leadership of Judy C. Boughey, MD, FACS, the Interim Chair, the committee work has been reimagined and modernized. Going forward there will be a greater focus on the development of new tools and cancer reports through the use of advanced cancer modeling techniques and there will be efforts specifically directed toward the building of new evidence in support of cancer standards.

At this time the Cancer Research Program Standards Investigation and Validation (SIV) Committee and Cancer Research Program Cancer Data Modeling (CDM) Committee are open to new members (details provided above).

The application for membership in these CRP committees is now open. Consideration shall strongly be given to enlist members whose research expertise and practice environments are diverse in order to provide for the most broadly-based feedback and discussion of issues germane to the committee.

The application deadline is March 13, 2023.