# Rapid Case Ascertainment Shared Resource

> **NIH NIH P30** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $170,947

## Abstract

RAPID CASE ASCERTAINMENT SHARED RESOURCE (RCA)
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The Rapid Case Ascertainment program (RCA) was originally developed in 1986-1987 in response to a
Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) request to establish a single entity that would be responsible for all
population-based cancer epidemiology studies that directly involve Connecticut hospitals. RCA assists cancer
researchers in implementing and executing their studies by providing high-quality and cost-effective study
management, cancer case identification, patient enrollment and interview, medical record abstraction, and
pathology specimen collection services so that investigators can accomplish their scientific goals.
During our most recent funding period (FY17), 19 people have used RCA. Thirteen of these users (68%) were
YCC members. The majority of this use came from Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Research Program.
The Rapid Case Ascertainment Shared Resource (RCA) facilitates cancer research and population-based
studies of cancer for YCC investigators, as well as outside investigators, who wish to conduct research in the
state of Connecticut (YCC catchment area). RCA addresses the many administrative tasks common to all
proposed hospital-based research in the state and provides a uniformly high-quality, well-coordinated interface
with those individuals, institutions, and agencies crucial to the success of cancer research. RCA also supports
rapid cancer case identification for research and clinical purposes. RCA functions as an agent of the
Connecticut Tumor Registry, as designated by the Commissioner of Public Health. RCA is led by Rajni Mehta
who has a master’s degree in Public Health.
The Specific Aims of the RCA Shared Resource are to: (1) Provide consultation and assistance to investigators
in protocol writing in appropriate areas (protection of human subjects, HIPAA regulations, confidentiality, etc.);
(2) Obtain approvals to conduct the research and submit annual reports and requests for re-approvals to all
non-Yale IRBs; (3) Identify patients with incident cancers; (4) Serve as an honest broker in studies that require
the investigators to not know the identity or the individuals whose data or specimens are being used for
research (de-identified research); (5) Perform data collection and pathology specimen collection; (6) Facilitate
research across the state of CT (YCC catchment area), as well as targeting areas of higher cancer risk (e.g.,
cities of Hartford, New Haven. and Bridgeport).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10228167
- **Project number:** 5P30CA016359-42
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Rajni Mehta
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $170,947
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-07-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10228167

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10228167, Rapid Case Ascertainment Shared Resource (5P30CA016359-42). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10228167. Licensed CC0.

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