Rapid Case Ascertainment
Working as an agent of the Connecticut Tumor Registry, The Rapid Case Ascertainment (RCA) Shared Resource facilitates population-based studies of cancer for YCC investigators, as well as outside investigators. As the needs of YCC investigators have evolved to require more research staff support for non-therapeutic trials, RCA has broadened and expanded its scope to provide support to YCC investigators in their non-therapeutic studies as well. This includes YCC investigators that conduct projects through the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA).
The RCA coordinates directly with Yale Pathology Tissue Services, or other hospital pathology labs, to obtain pathology specimens or histology services. They also manage blood and other specimen collections (i.e., stool, cerebral spinal fluid, biopsy cores) at the Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers, and assist with obtaining IRB approvals. By helping with these processes, RCA provides a service that would be difficult for individual PIs to achieve on their own in a limited study time period.
The RCA is rapidly expanding to support YCC Investigators’ need for non-therapeutic study management and support. This includes not only specimen collections, transportation, and shipment from the Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers, but assistance to YCC investigators with chart review and patient contact studies that need administrative and research help.
Services provided include:
- Consultation and assistance in protocol writing in appropriate areas (protection of human subjects, confidentiality, impact on institutional facilities, etc.) and design of the required institution-specific consent documents, physician and patient contact letters.
- Obtaining all non-Yale approvals to conduct the research (State of CT, all community hospital IRBs, hospital administrative and departmental approvals, where necessary).
- Serving as an honest broker for studies, identifying, requesting, and obtaining radiology films/scans
- Providing, or arranging for, other kinds of data collection.
- Managing the collection, transportation, and shipment of specimens (blood, stool, CSF, etc.)
- Acting as a resource to the health care community in those areas relating to cancer prevention and control, including facilitating interaction between investigators with common interests and goals.
- Providing feed-back of all published results of research to participating institutions; acknowledgment of participating institutions in print.
For an Application, or more information, please contact:
Rajni Mehta, MPH, Director
rajni.mehta@yale.edu