RAPID CASE ASCERTAINMENT SHARED RESOURCE - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Rapid Case Ascertainment Shared Resource (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. As YCC members’ needs to support non-therapeutic trials and research projects have increased, RCA has broadened and expanded its scope to provide support to YCC investigators in their non-therapeutic studies. This includes YCC members who conduct projects through the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA). 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 specimen collection services so that investigators can accomplish their scientific goals. During FY2022, there were 28 RCA users. 23 of these users (82%) were YCC members, representing all six Research Programs. The Rapid Case Ascertainment Shared Resource (RCA) also facilitates cancer research and population-based studies of cancer for YCC investigators, as well as outside ones, 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, and functions as an agent of the Connecticut Tumor Registry, as designated by the Commissioner of Public Health. This Shared Resource has been led by Rajni Mehta, MPH for the last 23 years. 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, study feasibility, etc.); (2) Obtain approvals to conduct the research and submit annual reports and re-approvals to IRB’s; (3) Perform overall project management; (4) Identify patients with incident cancers; (5) 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); (6) Perform data collection and pathology specimen collection; (7) Manage blood and other specimen collections (i.e., stool, cerebral spinal fluid, biopsy cores) within the YCC/Smilow Network; (8) 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).