Global Perspective Epidemiological Research at the American Cancer Society

Introduction When the ACS founded its intramural program of epidemiological research in 1946, lung cancer death rates in men had increased approximately 5-fold since 1930, the first year for which mortality statistics encompassed most of the United States (1). Death rates from what had been the two leading fatal cancers in women, uterine (cervix and corpus combined) and stomach cancer, were decreasing, although lung cancer rates were just beginning to climb. Connecticut operated the only population-based tumor registry. Two activities that helped to ground the new program were collaborative efforts to improve the quality and availability of cancer surveillance data and the involvement of ACS volunteers in assembling large prospective cohort studies that could provide insights about cancer etiology. E. Cuyler Hammond, who first directed the program, saw in the rapidly expanding network of ACS volunteers an extraordinary human resource that could enroll and help to follow large prospective epidemiological cohorts. More than 50 years later, intramural epidemiological research at ACS remains the most active epidemiological program based in a private, voluntary health organization. Cohort studies and cancer surveillance continue to be central to the program. This article will describe the mission and research activities of the current Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research. It will also direct readers toward a variety of publications and Web-based resources and describe opportunities and guidelines for training and/or collaborative research.