Two US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers were each awarded one-time $50,000 grant funding this year from SWOG Cancer Research Network and its charity, The Hope Foundation for Cancer Research, as part of the VA Integration Support Program.
The VA Integration Support Program started in 2015 and has awarded grant funding to 20 VA medical centers that totals to $649,138. This year’s recipients were the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the VA Boston Medical Health Center in Massachusetts.
The grant funding is intended to help VA medical centers enroll veterans in trials conducted by SWOG and other members of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN).
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“Veterans are more likely to get a number of cancers, and with the veteran population aging, the number of veterans getting a cancer diagnosis is likely to rise,” said patient advocate Bruce Wright in a press release statement. He is a survivor of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and prostate cancer as well as a retired commander in the US Navy.
“These veterans need to understand that a clinical trial is a good treatment option,” he said.
In addition to awarding grant funding, SWOG is helping enroll veterans to clinical trials by having a SWOG staff member recruit VA centers into the SWOG network. A total of 31 VA centers have been recruited into the SWOG network and 474 veterans have enrolled into NCI trials.
Reference
SWOG Cancer Research Network. Grants help VA centers enroll vets to trials [news release]. Published November 10, 2020. Accessed November 16, 2020.
