The Power of Partnership: Extending Comprehensive Cancer Center Expertise in Clinical Cancer Genetics to Community Breast Care Centers

Although many academic medical centers provide comprehensive genetic cancer risk assessment (GCRA) services, most people receive their medical care in the community setting. Consequently, the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Southern California developed a hub and spoke Cancer Screening & Prevention Program Networksm (CSPPN) to facilitate the delivery of state of the art GCRA services in dispersed communities. Growth of the CSPPN and innovation in technical support was catalyzed by education research grants and a technology transfer grant. An extended informatics technology-enabled network strategy was crafted, wherein community-based breast centers contract with the Cancer Center for program development, specialized training for personnel and ongoing support for quality care, and continuing medical education for community clinicians. Technology and collaboration are a powerful way to extend GCRA expertise from a NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center to community breast centers, with a net effect of increased access to expertise and enhanced community-based research.