NOT-CA-25-044
Forecast to Publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Academic Community Sites (UG1 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
Summary
National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP): Academic Community Sites
The NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) seeks to strengthen the generalizability and real-world dissemination of cancer clinical trials by building research capacity in community settings. This funding opportunity specifically supports NCORP Academic Community Sites—consortia pairing community hospitals and oncology practices with academic medical centers—to enroll diverse patient populations in rigorous studies spanning cancer control, prevention, screening, treatment, imaging, and care delivery. Academic sites serve as bridges between community-based patients and NCI-funded research networks, contributing clinical insights during trial design and identifying local health disparities amenable to investigation.
NCORP Academic Community Sites operate within a structured research ecosystem where they collaborate with NCORP Research Bases on concept development, feasibility assessment, and protocol refinement. The program prioritizes research that addresses cancer epidemiology, health disparities, and implementation science in community oncology settings.
At a glance:
- Who can apply: Consortia of community hospitals/oncology practices, a public hospital, and an academic medical center with robust infrastructure to support multi-site patient accrual. Critical requirement: must achieve ≥70 new unique patient/participant accruals annually, evenly split between cancer control/prevention/screening and treatment/imaging trials; if including cancer care delivery studies, must maintain ≥3 open protocols per year.
- Funding & project length: Not stated
- Award mechanism: UG1 (Cooperative Agreement); clinical trials not allowed for Academic Community Sites
- Key dates: Not stated
- Best fit for: Cancer control, prevention, and treatment research teams with established community partnerships and capacity to enroll representative populations across multiple sites; epidemiologic and implementation science approaches.
Insights (6)
70-Patient Annual Accrual Requirement Creates Hard Institutional Threshold
NCORP Academic Community Sites must achieve 70 new unique patient/participant accruals annually with strict distribution: exactly 50% to cancer control/prevention/screening and 50% to treatment/imaging trials. This is a binding performance metric, not a target. Institutions without established community oncology networks or those serving smaller patient populations will struggle to meet this threshold consistently.
Academic-Community Consortium Model Requires Robust Multi-Site Infrastructure
Success depends on the academic medical center's ability to coordinate accrual across affiliated community hospitals and oncology practices. Applicants with existing formal partnerships, shared electronic health records, and established referral pathways between academic and community sites will have a competitive advantage. Institutions attempting to build these networks de novo during the grant period face significant execution risk.
Cancer Care Delivery Studies Demand Minimum 3 Open Protocols Annually
If your consortium proposes to include cancer care delivery studies (optional), you must maintain at least 3 concurrent open protocols in this category every year. This creates an ongoing operational commitment beyond the standard accrual requirement and should only be included if your consortium has dedicated infrastructure and research staff to manage multiple care delivery studies simultaneously.
Health Disparities and Underrepresented Populations Drive Competitive Advantage
The NOFO emphasizes enhancing 'representativeness' and serving populations that improve generalizability of trial results. Consortia serving rural, low-income, or racially/ethnically diverse communities—particularly those with documented health disparities in cancer outcomes—align directly with NCORP's mission and strengthen applications. Preliminary data on your patient population's demographics and cancer burden will be persuasive.
UG1 Mechanism Signals Substantial Funding but Intense Institutional Competition
UG1 awards are large, multi-year infrastructure grants. NCORP Academic Community Sites compete against established research bases and other community site consortia with proven accrual track records. New or unproven consortia will face skepticism about their ability to sustain 70+ annual accruals; prior participation in NCI-sponsored trials or other cooperative group studies strengthens credibility.
Program Prioritizes Institutional Capacity Over Individual Investigator Seniority
NCORP is a consortium-based mechanism focused on organizational infrastructure and patient accrual, not individual researcher development. This is advantageous for established research administrators and community oncology leaders but offers limited career development or mentoring pathways for early-stage investigators seeking independent research support.
Key Facts
Deadline
—
Posted
Wed, May 28, 2025
Expected Awards
50
Keywords
Research Areas
Gotchas (1)
NCORP Academic Community Sites must achieve annual accruals of 70 new unique patient/participants with specific distribution requirements: accruals must be evenly distributed between two categories (c
95%
Source Text
“NCORP Academic Community Sites are expected to meet or exceed the required annual 70 new unique patient/participant accruals evenly distributed between cancer control, prevention, and screening/post-treatment surveillance trials, and treatment and imaging trials, respectively. Participation in cancer care delivery studies will be optional. For those who propose cancer care delivery participation, NCORP Academic Community Sites must meet or exceed the required minimum of 3 cancer care delivery pr”