Oversight and structure | Leadership

CENTER OVERSIGHT AND STRUCTURE

Administrative Core. This core will be led by the CPHHD Principal Investigator (Dr. Rebbeck) and Co-Principal Investigator (Dr. Hughes). This core will be responsible for the overall management of the CPHHD which is executed through the Executive Committee (twice a year), Steering Committee (once per month), and External Advi-sory Committee (once a year). The Administrative Core will also serve other CPHHD functions, such as communica-tion within and beyond the CPHHD and outreach (see Administrative Core proposal).

Executive Committee. This committee will include the CPHHD PI and Co-PI, Project PIs, Core Directors, the Director of the Urologic Oncology Program, and the Director of the ACC. This body will meet twice a year. This group will formulate CPHHD policy, identify and respond to special research opportunities and challenges, and man-age the CPHHD budget.

Steering Committee. This committee will include all of the members of the Executive Committee, as well as the project co-PIs and core directors. This committee will meet monthly. In contrast to the Executive Committee, the Steering Committee will oversee day-to-day management of the components of the CPHHD. The Steering Committee will review project participant accrual, data collection, analysis and report preparation; core usage and satisfactory pro-gress toward achieving the goals of the Center; and success of strategies to foster transdisciplinary collaboration.

External Advisory Committee. This committee will be comprised of advisors from outside the University of Pennsylvania representing the broad range of disciplines in the CPHHD, including psychology, behavioral sciences, genetics, epidemiology, clinical sciences (e.g., medical oncology, urology), and health policy. This committee will also include members representing community-based or consumer organizations. This group will be convened annu-ally to review the progress in each of the CPHHD components to identify new scientific opportunities, and to engage in strategic planning with the CPHHD leadership. Selected members of the External Advisory Committee will also be invited for a mid-year consulting visit and to present at the ACC Grand Rounds.

CENTER LEADERSHIP

The PI of the overall CPHHD is Dr. Timothy Rebbeck. He will provide direction and oversight to the entire pro-gram, and lend particular expertise for the epidemiology and genetics aspects of the CPHHD's research program. Dr. Chanita Hughes is co-PI of the CPHHD. She is Director of the Community and Minority Cancer Prevention and Con-trol Initiative of the ACC, and will provide oversight and direction for the behavioral, environmental, and social aspects of the CPHHD's research program.

Timothy R. Rebbeck, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epi-demiology, a Senior Scholar and Director of the Human Genetics Program in the CCEB, and Leader of the ACC's Cancer Epidemiology Program. The goal of Dr. Rebbeck's research program is to understand the complex, multifacto-rial etiology of cancer. This research uses a multidisciplinary approach that combines methods from epidemiology, statistics, molecular biology, and classical genetics. Dr. Rebbeck directs The Laboratory for Molecular Epidemiology that is geared toward the generation of molecular biomarker data for family and epidemiological studies. Dr. Rebbeck also has significant research interest and experience in studies of prostate cancer etiology. He holds an NIH grant enti-tled "Molecular Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer (R01-CA85074), which is an ongoing, large-scale epidemiological study to evaluate risk factors for prostate cancer, with a focus on genetic markers of etiology in African American and Caucasian men in Philadelphia. Dr. Rebbeck has had several leadership and collaborative roles in transdisciplinary group projects such as that proposed here. Dr. Rebbeck has been an active collaborator with the Cancer Genetics Net-work, and the University of Pennsylvania/Wistar Institute SPOREs (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) on leukemia and cancers of the skin. Dr. Rebbeck is PI of a large, multicenter study involving 14 institutions in North American and Europe entitled "Prophylactic Surgery in Carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations" (R01-CA83855). Dr. Rebbeck is also currently co-PI and co-Director of the Administrative Core for a Program Project entitled "Molecu-lar Susceptibility to Hormone-Induced Cancer" (P01-CA77596), which will expire in the Summer of 2003. These pro-jects have provided Dr. Rebbeck with substantial direct experience in leading a large-scale, transdisciplinary research project such as that proposed here.

Chanita Hughes, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsyl-vania and is Director of the Community and Minority Cancer Control Initiative at the Abramson Cancer Center. Dr. Hughes has conducted a significant amount of research on the contribution of sociocultural and psychological factors to cancer prevention and control. Her prior work includes research on ethnic differences in perceived risk of developing cancer, knowledge and attitudes about genetic testing for inherited cancer risk, and responses and preferences for edu-cation about genetic testing for inherited cancer risk. She was PI of an observational study funded by the Susan G. Komen National Race for the Cure Foundation to increase access to genetic counseling and testing among African American women. Dr. Hughes is currently PI of a randomized trial funded by the Department of Defense to develop and evaluate a culturally tailored genetic counseling protocol for African American women. She has published widely on ethnic differences in cancer prevention and control behaviors among African American women and has experience in developing and evaluating psycho-educational interventions targeted to breast cancer survivors through qualitative and quantitative methods.

© 2004 · CPHHD center · cphhd@cceb.upenn.edu