American Samoa Community Cancer Coalition Ua o gatasi le futia me le umele.

 The Division of Cancer Prevention's mission is to plan, direct, implement, and monitor cancer research and training that is focused on early detection, cancer risk, chemoprevention, and supportive care.

DCP projects address the need to identify where a person is in the process of carcinogenesis, and to determine ways to actively intervene to stop it from becoming invasive cancer. Varied approaches are supported, from pre-clinical discovery and development of biomarkers and chemoprevention agents, including pharmaceuticals and micronutrients, to Phase III clinical testing. Programs are harmonized with other NCI divisions, NIH institutes, and federal and state agencies.

Among its major activities, the division coordinates an integrated clinical trials research network through the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). This arrangement involves more than 4,000 physicians in NCI prevention, control and treatment trials at more than 400 community based hospitals, clinics, and practices.

DCP's Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) brings together scientists from wide ranging disciplines devoted to translating new molecular knowledge into practical clinical tests that identify cancer at the earliest stages of a normal cell's transformation. The consortium, which speeds its collaborations through an advanced informatics infrastructure, boasts more than 30 institutions and research teams from academic, private, and governmental bodies.

The Rapid Access to Preventive Intervention Development (RAPID) Program makes DCP contract resources available to academic and academically-affiliated investigators for preclinical and early clinical drug development.

NCI formally included cancer prevention in its research portfolio after it was congressionally mandated by the creation of the National Cancer Program in 1971. This vital element has since reflected the evolving scientific understanding of cancer and pre-cancer processes. While it has held different names through the years, the current NCI Division of Cancer Prevention with its distinctive multilateral approach originated in October 1997.

A stream of cancer prevention and control advancements occurred during the early decades as the science expanded. In 1974, NCI for the first time awarded cancer control grants to state health departments to screen low-income women for ovarian cancer. In 1983, funding was provided to 62 community clinical oncology centers, which became a new network for physicians called the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). Their focus was to enroll patients on NCI clinical trials that were led by cooperative groups and cancer centers. In 1986, this network grew to incorporate large-scale cancer prevention and control trials.