The Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium (PAC3, www.pac3.org) is an initiative formed in 2001 to reduce the human and economic burden of cancer by creating the first-ever Pennsylvania Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan. PAC3 represents more than 800 individuals and 250 public, private, academic, and volunteer organizations and is based on the premise that working together is the only way to develop an effective plan for cancer control. The Pennsylvania Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan is the result of PAC3’s identification of issues that cut across all stages of cancer from prevention to end-of-life and its analysis of available resources and opportunities in the Commonwealth. It acts as a statewide blueprint of unifying cancer-related priorities and details the steps that need to be taken to reduce the impact of cancer on the Commonwealth’s population. It seeks to enhance coordination among PAC3 members in all aspects of cancer control, from prevention and research to information management and quality of life; to develop dynamic public-private partnerships; to reduce duplication of efforts and to increase shared resources; and to coordinate dissemination of cancer-related information and education.
The 2005 PAC3 Research Summit focused on key research findings in cancer prevention and healthy lifestyles, early detection and screening, treatment and care delivery, and quality of life and survivorship. Among the prevention and early detection results highlighted at the summit:
- identification of biomarkers for early cancer diagnosis from Penn State University
- efforts by primary care practices engaged in efforts to improve colorectal cancer screening from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
- analyses of smoking cessation programs tailored to specific smoker characteristics and of smoking–associated factors in targeted regions of Pennsylvania from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Scranton
