Michigan Cancer Research Consortium Receives Grant to Advance National Cancer Moonshot Biobank

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Jan. 23, 2024) – The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Theradex Oncology has awarded the Michigan Cancer Research Consortium (MCRC), based at Trinity Health Ann Arbor, a $50,000 research grant. Funding received will support patient and physician engagement efforts for the national Cancer Moonshot Biobank project, a program of the NCI's Moonshot initiative. The Cancer Moonshot aims to accelerate cancer research by collecting and storing biospecimens from research volunteers to study various aspects of cancer, including drug resistance and sensitivity issues across different race and ethnicities.

Eight southeast Michigan Trinity Health sites, including hospitals and outpatient oncology clinics, will contribute to biobanking efforts under the direction of the MCRC leadership team, which developed and secured funding for the patient and provider engagement activities. The engagement project is led by Tareq Al Baghdadi, MD, MCRC principal investigator and a physician on staff at Trinity Health IHA Medical Group Hematology Oncology and Rose Juhasz, Ph.D., director of Oncology Research at Trinity Health Ann Arbor.

The engagement project will focus on increasing enrollment among African American and Latino participants, to foster a more diverse and inclusive pool of research patients. Additionally, they will continue educating physicians in training and other health care providers about biobanking research, and the important role it plays in advancing oncology care for patients. A third co-investigator is Elie Dib, MD, MS, a physician on staff at Trinity Health IHA Medical Group Hematology Oncology and associate program director for the Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hematology and Oncology Fellowship program.

“We are grateful to have received this grant and to participate in the effort to reduce and eliminate cancer across the communities we serve,” said Dr. Juhasz. “Our consortium’s dedication to patient and physician engagement, along with our proven track record in biobanking research, positions us well to make significant contributions to the Cancer Moonshot Biobank. This grant underscores the important role our community hospitals and outpatient clinics play in advancing cancer research, which have a tremendous impact on patients here in Michigan and across the country.”

The MCRC is recognized as a state and national community oncology leader in biobanking research. Both Dr. Al Baghdadi and Dr. Dib have extensive experience in the field, with Dr. Al Baghdadi actively contributing to the NCI's National Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Natural History Study, and his participation in numerous peer-reviewed publications on this group of hematological diseases. Likewise, Dr. Dib has served as a National Community co-chair for an NCI-sponsored study on immune-related adverse events associated with cancer immunotherapies. Through these studies, MCRC has successfully enrolled nearly 200 participants, tracking their progress for multiple years alongside their ongoing clinical care.

The research grant was just one of five distributed nationally. Other recipients included Columbia University, The University of Maine, and Medical University of South Carolina.

The Cancer Moonshot was launched by the federal government in 2016 to accelerate scientific discovery in cancer research, foster greater collaboration, and improve the sharing of cancer data, according to NCI. By focusing on areas of cancer research that are most likely to benefit Americans through new investment, the Cancer Moonshot has brought together a large community of patients, advocates, researchers, and clinicians who are dedicated to advancing research to end cancer as we know it.