The University of Colorado Cancer Center (UCCC) has won a National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant designed to link comprehensive cancer research and treatment centers to community providers, thereby opening doors for patients who wish to participate in clinical trials.

Tim Byers, M.D., M.P.H., interim director of the UCCC and a professor and associate dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, announced the grant last week in an online newsletter. The NCI is one of 20 institutes and seven centers sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). UCCC's grant will include it among the members of the National Community Cancer Center Program (NCCCP).

Byers said the NCI-funded collaboration would serve to support the growing reach of the center across the Rocky Mountain region, allowing patients to participate in phase I clinical trials taking place at the center. Its regional partners will include the Billings Clinic in Billings, Mont., and the Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.