# The University of Kansas Cancer Center's- MCA Rural NCORP

> **NIH NIH UG1** · UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $1,718,770

## Abstract

Abstract
The overarching goal for The University of Kansas Cancer Center – Midwest Cancer Alliance Rural
NCORP (KUCC-MCA Rural NCORP) is to enhance capacity for increasing clinical trials accrual and
participation of rural populations in cancer control, prevention, treatment, and care delivery clinical trials, as
well as in other human research developed and conducted by NCORP Research Bases. While cancer affects
all population groups, certain subgroups, including those living in rural communities, are more at risk than
others.[1, 2] Contributing risk factors include older age, inadequate insurance coverage, lower socio-economic
status, minority race, and more isolated geography—all of which can be barriers to receiving specialty
healthcare. Inaccessibility of clinical trials due to geographical barriers clearly disadvantages rural patients and
is their most frequently cited reason for not enrolling in studies.[5] Patients living in suburban areas have the
highest accrual rates to clinical trials, while those by patients living in rural areas is quite low[6, 7]. The University
of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC) is strongly positioned to enhance clinical trial accrual and participation of
rural populations through its leadership of the Midwest Cancer Alliance (MCA) and its cadre of accomplished
investigators with extensive experience working with rural communities and practices. As the outreach network
of the KUCC, the MCA has partnered with hospitals, cancer centers, and health care providers across the state
of Kansas for over a decade. The goal of these MCA partnerships has always been to extend the reach of
clinical research into under-represented communities, with a focus on rural and low-income communities. MCA
recently expanded to include our state-wide rural primary care practice based research network, Kansas
Patients and Providers Engaged in Prevention Research (KPPEPR), a network of over 75 primary care
providers from across Kansas with a longstanding history of supporting cancer prevention and control research
initiatives. KUCC-MCA Rural NCORP will leverage our over 45-year experience as a SWOG-member, 20-year
experience providing oncology care via telemedicine, 15-year history of successfully conducting research in
rural primary care settings, and 10-year experience opening and running clinical trials within rural health care
networks—all supported by KUCC expertise in partnering with rural oncology and primary care practices to
accomplish our goals. Specifically for the KUCC-MCA Rural NCORP, we will assess institutional, provider,
clinical trial, and patient barriers to trial accrual, and implement processes to: 1) Enhance the infrastructure of
local cancer centers and primary care offices to support clinical trials accrual in rural communities; 2) Expand
access to clinical trials across the MCA network by offering available NCORP clinical trials in local rural
communities; 3) Decrease barriers to clinical trial participation for rural a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10896004
- **Project number:** 5UG1CA239767-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** GARY C. DOOLITTLE
- **Activity code:** UG1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,718,770
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-13 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10896004

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10896004, The University of Kansas Cancer Center's- MCA Rural NCORP (5UG1CA239767-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10896004. Licensed CC0.

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