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Review
. 2022;9(1):1-9.
doi: 10.1007/s40471-022-00282-z. Epub 2022 Feb 21.

Coordinating Centers as a Strategy for Accelerating Cancer Epidemiology Consortia: Best Practices

Amy Trentham-Dietz  1   2 , Jennifer E Bird  1   2 , Ronald E Gangnon  1   2   3 , Sara M Lindberg  1 , Tena Madison  4 , Kristen M C Malecki  1   2 , James D Shull  2   5 , Claudia Vredeveld  1   2 , Betsy Rolland  2   6
Affiliations
Review

Coordinating Centers as a Strategy for Accelerating Cancer Epidemiology Consortia: Best Practices

Amy Trentham-Dietz et al. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2022.

Abstract

Purposeof review: This review highlights six "best practices" for cancer epidemiology coordinating centers to facilitate the success of a research consortium.

Recent findings: Evidence from emerging literature regarding the Science of Team Science suggests that coordinating centers can more effectively foster collaborative cancer epidemiology research in consortia by (1) establishing collaboration as a shared goal at the start, (2) providing scientific expertise complementary to the research sites that adapts over the course of the project, (3) enacting anti-racist and inclusive approaches in all consortium decisions and activities, (4) fostering early-stage investigator career development, (5) engaging stakeholders including cancer survivors as peers, and (6) delivering reliable logistical support and technology tools with planned process evaluation so that researchers can collaboratively focus on the science.

Summary: By drawing on the Science of Team Science, coordinating centers can accelerate research progress and increase the impact of cancer epidemiology consortia.

Keywords: Cancer epidemiology; Coordinating centers; Team science.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestAmy Trentham-Dietz, Jennifer Bird, Ronald E. Gangnon, Sara Lindberg, Tena Madison, Kristen Malecki, James Shull, Claudia Vredeveld, and Betsy Rolland declare no conflicts of interest. Amy Trentham-Dietz, Ronald E. Gangnon, Kristen Malecki, James Shull, and Betsy Rolland report grants from NIH outside the submitted work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Best practices of an effective coordinating center
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schema of various levels for the intensity of consortium interactions between a coordinating center and research sites. Coordinating centers represented by blue circles and research sites represented by red squares. Abbreviation: CC, coordinating center. Adapted from Kozlowski and Bell [15]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of health & Human Services. RePORTER, version 2020.9, available at https://reporter.nih.gov/ Accessed 05/18/2021 [updated 05/15/2021].
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    1. Rolland B, Paine D, Lee CP. Work practices in coordinating center enabled networks (CCENs). Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Supporting Group Work. Sanibel Island, Florida, USA, ACM: 194–203. 2014.

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