Call for Nominations for the 2018 Cancer Prevention Laurel Awards
The NCCRT is pleased to join the Prevent Cancer Foundation as co-sponsors of their prestigious Laurel awards program. You are invited to nominate individuals whom you believe deserve this recognition. Awards will be made in these categories to recognize work in any area of cancer prevention or early detection:

• Cancer Prevention Laurel for National Leadership: Awarded to an individual who has shown exemplary leadership in cancer prevention or early detection at the national level in the U.S.
• Cancer Prevention Laurel for Increasing Health Equity: Awarded to an individual or organization for programs or innovations improving cancer prevention and screening in communities in the U.S. affected by health disparities.
• Cancer Prevention Laurel for Dedication to Community Service: Awarded to an individual who has demonstrated unwavering commitment to enhancing cancer prevention or early detection on the community level in the U.S.

You may make one or more nominations; however, you may nominate someone for only one award category and may make only one nomination per award category. Provide a letter for each nomination describing why the nominee should be recognized with a particular award and include a short biographical sketch (no CVs, please). Submit your nominations by COB on Tuesday, December 19, 2017. If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Han at [email protected] or (703)837-3682. Additionally, please mark April 11-13, 2018 for the annual Dialogue for Action meeting. For more about the Laurels awards and the Dialogue, visit www.dialogueforaction.org.

Replay of NCCRT Webinar on CRC Screening in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities
The replay of the November 28th, Colorectal Cancer Screening In American Indian and Alaska Native Communities NCCRT webinar can be found here: http://nccrt.org/resource/crc-screening-aian-communities-11-28-2017/  Additionally, here is a link to the newly published report, Meeting Report: Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening for American Indians and Alaska Natives, which summarizes the presentations, discussions, and strategic planning that took place during the American Cancer Society and NCCRT co-sponsored meeting to discuss increasing CRC screening in AI/AN communities on April 25th, 2016. The report reviews much of the data and statistics on colorectal cancer incidence, mortality, and screening rates in AI/AN populations that was shared on the webinar, including sources. The NCCRT and the ACS would like to thank the many individuals who generously offered their time and expertise in planning the meeting agenda, participating in the meeting, and in developing this meeting report, and especially Emily Bell for all her work getting this report finalized.

Replay of ACS Webinar on Employer Strategies to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening
A replay of the November 30th ACS webinar on how employers can impact their employees’ health through colorectal cancer screening interventions can be found here. The webinar reviews steps employers can take to increase screening rates at their company and then featured three corporate partners who have implemented effective strategies, including Ameren, AT&T, and Progressive Insurance.  Thank you to Shelley MacAllister and Alex Boehm for their roles in making this webinar happen.

Largest-ever VA clinical trial enrolls 50,000^th Veteran
A Veterans Affairs (VA) clinical trial that aims to learn which test is best for colorectal cancer screening enrolled its 50,000^th veteran volunteer participant on Nov. 16th. The trial is now by far the largest single VA clinical trial in history. The colorectal cancer trial, launched in 2012, is known by the name CONFIRM, short for “Colonoscopy versus Fecal Immunochemical Testing in Reducing Mortality from Colorectal Cancer.” Recruitment was ongoing at nearly 50 VA sites. With the enrollment of the 50,000^th volunteer, that phase of the study is now complete.  CONFIRM will compare the outcomes of two widely recommended colorectal cancer screening methods.  Congratulations to NCCRT Member Dr. Jason Dominitz, co-chair of the CONFIRM study and VA’s national program director for gastroenterology, as well as the other VA leaders who made this happen.  Read this article to learn more.

Save the Date for the 3^rd Annual Southeast Colorectal Cancer Consortium in New Orleans
The SE Consortium Planning Committee is hard at work planning the 3^rd Annual Southeast Colorectal Cancer Consortium in New Orleans.   Registration is not yet open, but please save the date for the 2018 Consortium, which will be held on June 27^th through 29^th at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans.  Best practices will be shared and topics include: What is happening around the nation, and the Southeast with regard to colorectal cancer? What is the role of health Insurers and large medical systems? How can primary care physicians and gastroenterologists help? What is the responsibility of public health professionals? What kinds of data should be collected, how can it be gathered, and how can it be used to motivate?

Save the date – March 27^th Early Onset Twitter Chat
Mark Tuesday, March 27, at 1 p.m. ET on your calendars when the Colon Cancer Coalition and the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation (CCCF) will co-host an early onset Twitter Chat. This Twitter Chat is in advance of the CCCF’s Early Age Onset Summit held in NYC in April. The hope is to engage survivors, providers, caregivers, and non-profit organizations together for a conversation around young onset colorectal cancer.  Anyone involved in early onset colorectal cancer and can join the discussion and be a part of an active conversation about the rising rates of colon and rectal cancer in people under the recommended screening age of 50.  Please mark your calendar and feel free to share with your networks.

Relevant Journal Articles

Here are recent relevant articles that may be of interest:

• A study appeared in Gastroenterology that looked at genetic features of young individuals with colorectal cancer.  The study found that approximately 1 in 5 individuals diagnosed with CRC at age younger than 50 years carry a germline mutation associated with cancer; nearly half of these do not have clinical histories typically associated with the identified syndrome. The article concludes that germline testing with multigene cancer panels should be considered for all young patients with CRC.  The following news story covering this article may be of interest.   Thank you to Kathleen Lobb for bringing this article to our attention, and congratulations to the study authors.
• A study appeared in the Preventive Medicine that estimated the health benefits and cost-savings for achieving the Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) objective of reducing invasive colorectal cancer.  The study found that achieving the HP2020 objective of reducing invasive CRC incidence by 15% by year 2020 would potentially save nearly 150,000 life-years and $624 million on healthcare costs.  Thank you to Dorry Lane for bringing this article to our attention, and congratulations to the study authors.
• A new CDC study appeared in the journal Cancer that examined colorectal cancer survival trends by race and stage. Five-year net survival from colon cancer increased slightly over time. Survival among blacks diagnosed between 2004 and 2009 had still not reached the level of that among whites diagnosed between 1990 and 1994, some 15 to 20 years earlier. The article concludes that the findings suggest a need for more targeted efforts to improve screening and to ensure timely, appropriate treatment, especially for blacks, to reduce this large and persistent disparity in survival.  Thank you to Lisa Richardson and Emily Bell for bringing this article to our attention.  Congratulations to study author, Djenaba Joseph, as well as to the other authors.

Thank you!
Finally, thank you to all of our NCCRT members who made it out to the NCCRT Meeting this past week! We always learn so much from you and enjoyed our incredible two and a half days together. Thank you again to all our meeting sponsors with special thanks to our Gold Level Sponsors:  the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, Bracco Diagnostics, Polymedco and Exact Sciences.  We set a goal of raising $60,000 in meeting support, but ended up raising over $75,000.  Thank you!  This support allows us to keep the meeting free for all of you.  Additional thanks to EIF’s National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and Katie Couric, as well as to the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation for their generous sponsorship of our December 6^th Colorectal Cancer Early Onset Summit.