NCI Cohort Consortium Events

Harmonizing data across studies is a critical step in supporting robust epidemiological research, but it presents a range of scientific, methodological, and technical challenges. This webinar provided an overview of the obstacles encountered by research teams when harmonizing collected data and introduced resources developed to improve speed, cost-effectiveness, consistency, and transparency of the harmonization process.

This webinar provided information about the SEER-linked Virtual Tissue Repository (VTR) Program and the research enabled by the Residual Tissue Repository (RTR). Participants were presented with an overview of the VTR’s infrastructure, recent results from a pilot integrating the VTR with the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) Program, and the unique opportunities it offered for population-based cancer research using biospecimens.

Speakers presented insights into how the VTR facilitated access to high-quality, annotated tissue samples linked with cancer registry data and how researchers could leverage this resource for studies in molecular epidemiology, biomarker discovery, and translational cancer research.

The session also highlighted real-world examples of research projects that utilized the RTR, illustrating how archived residual tissue samples were used to advance scientific discovery and inform public health strategies.

The NCI Cohort Consortium’s Associate Member Council hosted an informal discussion on careers in epidemiology. Distinguished professionals across academia, industry, and government shared insights into their career journeys. This webinar was held to support early career scientists, with a particular focus on working within a consortium.

This meeting was organized by the Associate Member Council of the NCI Cohort Consortium to support early stage investigators as they navigate the multiple demands of starting a research career with a particular focus on working within a consortium.

In this webinar, we examined research from cohorts in both COMETS and the NCI Cohort Consortium. Dr. Mary Playdon described an ongoing project that integrates dietary pattern, genetic, and metabolomics data to investigate biological pathways linking dietary patterns and colorectal cancer risk. Dr. Steven Moore presented results from a meta-analysis of cohort studies to examine associations between metabolites, age and BMI across different populations using COMETS Analytics web-based statistical software. The goal of the webinar was also to highlight the mission and work of the two consortia and to showcase possibilities for cross-consortia collaborations.

The Research Program is enrolling a diverse group of at least 1 million persons in the United States to accelerate biomedical research and improve health of individuals and populations. In this webinar, the speakers gave a quick introduction to the current status of the cohort and provided a hands-on training session for scientists interested in accessing and analyzing All of Us Data.

This webinar builds upon the "Perspectives on CMS Linkage for Cancer Research in Cohort Studies" presentation during the NCI Cohort Consortium Annual Meeting. This webinar described cohort investigators' experiences with conducting Medicare linkages.

This webinar included an overview of theoretical frameworks and data resources for measuring structural and social determinants of health with geospatial data. In addition, innovative methods/approaches for characterizing the attributes of the neighborhood in both non-diseased and cancer survivor cohort studies was presented. Lastly, opportunities and challenges in applying geospatial data and methods were discussed.

Learn more about common measurements of aging that may be done using existing cancer epidemiology cohort survey data and biospecimens. Frailty measures and aging trajectory data was presented from the Women’s Health Initiative and other cohorts, and use of non-cancer comparison groups was discussed.

Early-onset colorectal cancer incidence, defined as arising in individuals <50 years of age, has been rapidly rising in the United States and globally. However, reasons for this increasing trend remain unclear. This webinar described early-onset colorectal cancer trends, etiologic studies, and methodological challenges and opportunities within the NCI Cohort Consortium to conduct research on rare tumor “subtypes”. Participants learned more about the Colorectal Cancer Pooling Project and other similar pooling projects and how these efforts can build upon and link with larger ongoing research in this area.

Tumor pathologic features are routinely examined in every cancer case and inform clinical decision making. Across many cancer types, there is a growing interest in immune cells within the tumor microenvironment, which are often strongly associated with patient survival. This webinar will discuss various strategies of immune analyses (including use of routine pathology slides) in population studies. Participants will learn how to incorporate and utilize tumor characteristics data, especially immune cell infiltrates, in population studies. Studies of the associations between exposures and tumor pathology subtypes may provide insight into the etiology of cancer and mechanisms of cancer development.

The California Teachers Study (CTS), a cancer risk cohort study, has developed tools to automate data sharing. This webinar provided a demonstration of those tools as well as an overview of the data and technology that those tools use. The promotion of data sharing is a goal area of the Cohort Consortium. Cohort investigators and research teams will gain a better understanding of how they can request and use CTS data in their individual or Consortium projects and take steps to share their data in similar ways.

The NCI Cohort Consortium Associate Member Council (AMC) is the representative body of early career investigators within the NCI Cohort Consortium. It serves to engage and support early career investigators through professional development, career networking opportunities, and research collaborations within the NCI Cohort Consortium and to position members of the next generation of investigators to attain leadership roles within the Consortium. This webinar included a panel discussion in which speakers addressed skills for navigating work and productivity during the pandemic. Strategies included goal setting, saying “no” and protecting your time (and sanity), networking and leading teams remotely, and starting a new position during the pandemic.