University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Cancer Prevention and Control

Research Program

Cancer Prevention & Control Program

The goal of the Cancer Prevention & Control Program is to apply the expertise of behavioral, basic, and clinician-scientists to conduct innovative and impactful cancer research that reduces Colorado’s cancer burden. To achieve this goal, CPC brings together outstanding transdisciplinary, well-funded scientists with strengths in public health, psychology, epidemiology, economics, basic science, and cancer care delivery. The program has 57 members, including 43 full members and 14 mentored members from many institutions and represents 24 departments and 7 schools; most members hold primary affiliations with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center, University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University.

Scientific Goals:

Discover and evaluate novel approaches to cancer prevention and early detection
Conduct population-based cancer control interventions
Identify and diminish cancer disparities through health services and policy research

Focus Groups:

Population Sciences Research
Behavioral Research in Primary and Secondary Prevention
Chemoprevention Research
Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship Research

Highlights:

Cancer Prevention and Control research has led to advancements in primary and clinical preventive services, statewide policies, and improved cancer survivorship. Cancer Prevention and Control investigators studied promising agents in pre-clinical studies, identified breast cancer risk factors in Hispanic women, developed and operated the Colorado Colorectal Screening Program, made advancements in the understanding of obesity and breast cancer, and affected cancer prevention and control policy across the state.

Cancer Prevention and Control Leadership

Rajesh Agarwal, PhD

Program Co-Leader

Dr. Agarwal is a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Agarwal is a NIH-funded cancer chemo-prevention scientist for over 30 years. His research interests include chemo-prevention of skin, prostate, bladder, colon, lung, pancreatic, and head and neck cancers and a wide range of naturally occurring and synthetic agents to prevent and treat cancer. He has served on numerous study sections and ad hoc review committees at NIH (mostly NCAAM and NCI) involving reviews of Cancer Centers, Program Projects, Botanical and/or Dietary Centers, and R applications. Agarwal has over 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications. His current NCI-funded research portfolio includes an active R01 grant. Agarwal has been the co-leader for the Cancer Prevention and Control Program since July 2009. In this position, he has played a major role in developing and enhancing the CPC’s portfolio of translational chemo-prevention and immuno-prevention research from bench to bedside, as well as working closely with his program co-leaders and other UCCC program leaders, in supporting and integrating cancer chemo-prevention research within CPC and other programs at UCCC.

Stacy Fischer, MD

Program Co-Leader

Dr. Fischer is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Fischer is a geriatrician by training and a practicing palliative care clinician and researcher. Her work has focused on examining treatment preferences and outcomes at the end of life through a disparity and equity lens. Building on this work, she has developed innovative lay patient navigator interventions to improve palliative care outcomes for Hispanics across the Catchment. She is part of the leadership team for the NIH-funded Palliative Care Research Cooperative and is actively involved in federally and foundationally funded rigorous multi-site palliative care research trials. She has served on NIH and PCRC study sections and is currently a standing member of NIH’s Interdisciplinary Clinical Care in Specialty Setting study section. Dr. Fischer co-leads an NIH-funded T32 in palliative care and aging. Through her work with a national Palliative Care T32 collaborative, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and State of the Science, and the PCRC, Dr. Fischer is helping to shape the next generation of palliative care researchers. Since joining the Cancer Control and Prevention leadership team in 2021, she has worked closely with Drs. Studts and Agarwal to grow the survivorship and palliative care aspects of the program and champion disparities research across all the programs within the Cancer Center.

Jamie Studts, PhD

Program Co-Leader

Dr. Studts is a professor in the Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Studts is a funded cancer prevention and control scientist for nearly 20 years. His research develops, evaluates, and disseminates interventions to improve outcomes regarding lung cancer screening and lung cancer survivorship. He has served on a broad range of national study sections for NIH and DOD as well as international review panels for the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, including a combination of special emphasis panels, standing study sections, and career development panels. Studts has nearly 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and his current research is funded by NCI and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation/LUNGevity Foundation. He has served as co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program and co-director of the Population Health Shared Resource since joining the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in January 2020. As CPC co-leader, Studts oversees social and population science within the CPC program—across the three program aims and two over-arching UCCC themes. Studts works closely with Drs. Agarwal and Fischer to support collaborative research within CPC, across the UCCC research programs, and with cancer prevention and control investigators at other NCI-designated cancer centers.