# Improving Cancer Outcomes in Native American Communities (ICON) - Administrative Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2024 · $592,159

## Abstract

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE: PROJECT SUMMARY
The Administrative Core (AC) provides the organizational nexus for the jointly conducted cancer research
and career enhancement activities of the proposed NIMHD U19 Center, Improving Outcomes in Native
American Communities (ICON). Years of community outreach and engagement with Tribal Nations, Tribal
Organizations and Indian Health Service, Tribal, and urban American Indian / Alaska Native (ITU) clinics have
taught the ICON Leadership Team (LT) that successful research collaborations flourish when researchers
focus from the outset on these partners interests and priorities rather than their own. Tribes, Tribal
Organizations and ITU healthcare systems are involved with ICON because they understand the impact that
this U19 Center promises to have on improving cancer health outcomes. Importantly for the AC, they also trust
that the robust governance structure proposed in the AC will guide use and sharing of data from the proposed
research studies. The Administrative Core (AC) LT, in close collaboration with the Community Engagement
Core, will create an ethical, acceptable and feasible framework for testing, data collection and data sharing in
partnership with Tribes, which as sovereign nations, have rights that are unique among underrepresented
groups in the United States. The AC LT, which will be guided by the Stephenson Cancer Center’s Native
American Center for Cancer Health Equity (NACCHE) Tribal Advisory Council (TAC), will establish procedures
for regular communication and decision making with our Tribal and ITU research project partners, the NIMHD
Program Office, and other funded U19 Center(s). ICON research projects and investigator career
enhancement activities are integrated and mutually reinforcing, with the ultimate goal of creating durable
capacity to improve cancer outcomes among American Indian / Alaska Native persons in Oklahoma and
beyond. Specific aims are: (1) To provide leadership, infrastructure and a management plan to ensure smooth
operational support for all proposed activities; (2) To provide career enhancement experiences for ICON
investigators, and (3) to conduct rigorous program evaluation to facilitate ongoing ICON performance and
ensure successful completion of each project component. A major goal of ICON is to build a secure foundation
for tribally engaged cancer research. The AC will support a governance structure fostering shared decision
making. It will provide fiscal oversight as well as oversight of Institutional Review Board (IRB) applications, as
each research project will require coordinated approvals by Tribal, Indian Health Service and/or academic
institution IRBs. The AC will conduct program evaluation for each project. Collectively, these management
functions will ensure that all aspects of ICON are integrated into a tribally engaged effort to improve cancer
health outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11161058
- **Project number:** 1U19MD020537-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Dorothy Alison Rhoades
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $592,159
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-17 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11161058

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11161058, Improving Cancer Outcomes in Native American Communities (ICON) - Administrative Core (1U19MD020537-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11161058. Licensed CC0.

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