Sealy Center on Aging

James S. Goodwin, MD, George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Geriatric Medicine, Sealy Center on Aging will present on Comparative Effectiveness Research in Cancer Care in the DMAC (Data Management and Analysis Core) CERCIT (Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas) Seminar Series on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, from Noon – 1 pm online. Contact Monica Cline (mjcline@utmb.edu) for Zoom invitation.

As part of $142 million in new grants, the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas, (CPRIT) announced on August 18, 2021 an award of $2,936,731 to Yong-Fang Kuo, PhD, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and Director of the UTMB Office of Biostatistics. The award supports the establishment of a state-wide resource, The Data Management and Analysis Core (DMAC) for Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas, at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Since 2010, the Data Management and Analysis Core (DMAC) of the Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas (CERCIT) has worked closely with Texas Cancer Registry (TCR) to link multiple large databases, including Medicare and Medicaid, for research use. This new funding will continue the DMAC via the CPRIT-Core Facility Support Award. The DMAC will link TCR databases with nationally representative surveys, to enhance patient-centered outcomes research and the interpretation and applicability of our findings to the Texas population. It will also train new comparative effectiveness research (CER) investigators across Texas academic and research institutions with a large number of underrepresented researchers.  Read more at the Sealy Center on Aging website. 

A special lecture sponsored by Center for Recovery, Physical Activity, and Nutrition (CeRPAN) with the Department of Nutrition & Metabolism as part of the UTMB School of Health Professions 50th Anniversary lecture series on July 25, 2018. Exercise Guidance After a Cancer Diagnosis: Evidence and Logistics was presented by Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology, Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences; Associate Director of Population Sciences, Penn State Cancer Institute.

The size and diversity of Texas present substantial challenges to the delivery of cancer care throughout the state. The CERCIT Knowledge Translation Core produced the following report and online resources that map population, economic and health care characteristics of diverse geographic areas in Texas that are relevant to the delivery of cancer care.

Read More: Demographic Variations in Texas

A multi-institutional group, led by James S. Goodwin, MD, has been awarded a second five years of funding for "Comparative Effectiveness Research on Cancer in Texas" (CERCIT). The $6 million grant is from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. The CERCIT renewal will build on our analyses of administrative data but expand our methods to better measure individual patient characteristics and include information on patient preferences and patient reported outcomes. Our goal is to generate evidence that will help patients and their physicians make individualized decisions about the best cancer care options for each patient. These choices include screening, treatment and end of life care in cancer.

HOUSTON – (July 25, 2016) – Regions in Texas differ widely in adherence to recommended cancer treatment for elderly patients, according to a study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

These differences are not due to the availability of treatment specialists or the presence of teaching hospitals, the study found. The absence of consistent explanations for these treatment differences suggests that variations like these are likely to occur elsewhere nationwide.

"Texans are no better off in one city versus another in terms of treatment across a broad range of cancers," said Vivian Ho, the chair in health economics at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy and director of the institute's Center for Health and Biosciences, who co-authored the study. "One might have expected Houston residents to receive better treatment because of MD Anderson's presence, but any beneficial effects could be offset by a large number of elderly in Houston not being treated there." The research findings were published in the journal BMC Health Services Research.