A Rutgers-led consortium has been awarded a $6.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support next-generation tools to guide tobacco control policies, improve lung cancer screening, strengthen survivorship care, and support state-level cancer prevention planning.
Jamie Tam , an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health , a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute and a core faculty member at the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies , will lead the multidisciplinary research team across seven universities. Rafael Meza, a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, a core faculty member at the institute, and an adjunct professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School will co-lead the team as one of the project's six Principal Investigators.
“With new nicotine products on the market and tobacco control programs facing cuts, the landscape for lung cancer prevention is changing rapidly,” said Tam. “As tobacco use patterns, screening technologies and treatment approaches evolve, we need tools that can anticipate future challenges and evaluate interventions before they are implemented.”
The five-year grant is through the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET).
Despite major advances in tobacco control and lung cancer screening and prevention, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with an estimated 125,000 deaths annually. This newly funded research aims to provide policymakers and public health leaders with more accurate tools to evaluate emerging tobacco products and their potential impact on population health.
“With a suite of six lung cancer natural history models and a proven record of clinical and policy impact, we are using leading-edge modeling to address emerging challenges and inform decision-making across the lung cancer control continuum,” said Tam, who serves as the contact principal investigator for the project.
Together with teams at Stanford University, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Purdue University, the University of Michigan and Harvard University, the researchers will advance lung cancer prevention and control through state-of-the-art modeling approaches designed to capture the rapidly evolving tobacco and nicotine marketplace.
“As New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, we are uniquely positioned to advance research that deepens our understanding of the factors that contribute to cancer and identify opportunities to prevent it,” said Steven K. Libutti, senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health and the William N. Hait director of the Rutgers Cancer Institute. “Our Cancer Prevention and Control Program is leading efforts to drive meaningful change through research, evidence-based interventions, and policy initiatives that improve public health and reduce the burden of cancer across our communities.”
Challenges also remain in ensuring equitable access to lung cancer screening. Despite its proven effectiveness, fewer than 20% of eligible individuals receive lung cancer screening, according to the American Cancer Society. At the same time, many people diagnosed with lung cancer would not have been eligible for screening under current criteria, meaning existing approaches may miss some individuals at elevated risk.
“Simulation modeling and data-driven research are vital to addressing these disparities,” Meza said. “By quantifying tobacco use and disease burden in specific subpopulations, we can also identify optimal strategies to detect lung cancer early and reduce lung cancer incidence and mortality in each subpopulation.”
For more than 25 years, the CISNET Lung Working Group has used comparative modeling to evaluate lung cancer prevention and screening strategies. Their findings have shaped national lung cancer screening guidelines and policies and inform efforts to reduce the burden of lung cancer in the United States.
“This award reflects the strength of Rutgers’ longstanding leadership in tobacco research and cancer prevention,” said Cristine Delnevo, director of the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies and associate vice chancellor for health policy and regulatory science at Rutgers Health. “By combining expertise in tobacco use, policy, epidemiology, and simulation modeling, this collaboration will generate evidence that will reduce the burden of lung cancer and improve population health,” said Delnevo, who is also a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute.