Improving Cancer Outcomes in Native American Communities (ICON) - Administrative Core

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE: PROJECT SUMMARY The Administrative Core (AC) provides the organizational nexus for the jointly conducted cancer research and career enhancement activities of the proposed NIMHD U19 Center, Improving Outcomes in Native American Communities (ICON). Years of community outreach and engagement with Tribal Nations, Tribal

Organizations and Indian Health Service, Tribal, and urban American Indian / Alaska Native (ITU) clinics have taught the ICON Leadership Team (LT) that successful research collaborations flourish when researchers focus from the outset on these partners interests and priorities rather than their own. Tribes, Tribal

Organizations and ITU healthcare systems are involved with ICON because they understand the impact that this U19 Center promises to have on improving cancer health outcomes. Importantly for the AC, they also trust that the robust governance structure proposed in the AC will guide use and sharing of data from the proposed

research studies. The Administrative Core (AC) LT, in close collaboration with the Community Engagement Core, will create an ethical, acceptable and feasible framework for testing, data collection and data sharing in partnership with Tribes, which as sovereign nations, have rights that are unique among underrepresented

groups in the United States. The AC LT, which will be guided by the Stephenson Cancer Center’s Native American Center for Cancer Health Equity (NACCHE) Tribal Advisory Council (TAC), will establish procedures for regular communication and decision making with our Tribal and ITU research project partners, the NIMHD

Program Office, and other funded U19 Center(s). ICON research projects and investigator career enhancement activities are integrated and mutually reinforcing, with the ultimate goal of creating durable capacity to improve cancer outcomes among American Indian / Alaska Native persons in Oklahoma and beyond. Specific aims are: (1) To provide leadership, infrastructure and a management plan to ensure smooth

operational support for all proposed activities; (2) To provide career enhancement experiences for ICON investigators, and (3) to conduct rigorous program evaluation to facilitate ongoing ICON performance and ensure successful completion of each project component. A major goal of ICON is to build a secure foundation

for tribally engaged cancer research. The AC will support a governance structure fostering shared decision making. It will provide fiscal oversight as well as oversight of Institutional Review Board (IRB) applications, as each research project will require coordinated approvals by Tribal, Indian Health Service and/or academic

institution IRBs. The AC will conduct program evaluation for each project. Collectively, these management functions will ensure that all aspects of ICON are integrated into a tribally engaged effort to improve cancer health outcomes.