# Community-led Action Research in Oncology: Pandemic-appropriate Radiotherapy Innovations Evaluated for LMICs

> **NIH NIH P30** · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · 2021 · $171,781

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Community-led Action Research in Oncology – Pandemic-appropriate Radiotherapy Innovations
Evaluated for LMICs (CLARO PARTE for LMICs)
This application is being submitted in response to the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) identified as NOT-CA-
21-033. This participatory action research (PAR) study will assess radiotherapy (RT) innovations in partnership
with oncology professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We will leverage global experience and
relationships of the Community-led Action Research in Oncology (CLARO) global oncology research team at
Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) and involve RT professionals throughout LAC in evaluating “frugal
innovations,” which were developed during the COVID-19 pandemic and are defined as the creation of
unexpected solution that are simpler and disruptive alternatives to provide adequate healthcare within reach of
everyone (Tran et al. 2016). Our overall goal is to identify frugal innovations and evaluate them for safety,
efficiency, quality, feasibility, acceptability, and potential potency, to assess adaptability for use in future
pandemics, or other public health emergencies. Phase 1 involves convening LAC RT professionals in a Project
ECHOTM (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) tele-mentoring partnership to share frugal
innovations devised by their clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Latin-American and Caribbean
Society for Medical Oncology (SLACOM) will facilitate a panel of RT professionals joining the teleconferences.
In Phase 2, physicians and scientists experienced in radiation oncology and innovation will evaluate
innovations for effects on virus control, maintenance of clinical operations, and continuance of quality care by a
multidisciplinary team applying international standards. The innovations that meet standards will advance to
Phase 3, returning to the panel of LAC RT professionals where participants will engage in a Delphi consensus-
building process to assess feasibility, acceptability within their setting, and potential potency. Relying on highly
participatory and iterative processes, which are the hallmarks of Participatory Action Research (PAR), we will
move from data collection and reflection to action and improvement, leveraging relationships between NCCC’s
CLARO and SLACOM. Ultimately, we will develop a manual of scalable frugal RT innovations suitable for
LMICs in a pandemic. Innovations will be organized topically: routing, hygiene, ventilation, PPE, and
scheduling, etc. and further organized in matrixes by high/low impact and high/low cost.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10380931
- **Project number:** 3P30CA023108-42S1
- **Recipient organization:** DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Steven D Leach
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $171,781
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10380931

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10380931, Community-led Action Research in Oncology: Pandemic-appropriate Radiotherapy Innovations Evaluated for LMICs (3P30CA023108-42S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10380931. Licensed CC0.

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