Large Online Cohort Studies
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is applying its tools for connectivity and collaboration (such as caBIG® technology and Web 2.0), to enable a new generation of consumer-controlled, online research studies. In such studies, tens of thousands or even millions of consumers and patients can volunteer to share their health information in order to fuel research into the causes and treatments for cancer.
In one recent example of such an approach, the NCI has partnered with the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the City of Hope to develop the first ever online cohort of one million women designed to examine the causes, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer. In that study, women—with or without breast cancer—sign up and respond to a series of periodic secure online questionnaires concerning topics such as their health, family health history, nutrition, physical activity, etc. These women are then connected to the research community via the Web.
Other organizations can undertake similar Web-based research studies by adopting this technology to mobilize large numbers of consumers and patients.
Learn more about the Health of Women Study.
Learn about the Consumer Web Portal – My Cancer eLIFE model.
"We would not be able to do this project without the collaboration of caBIG®."
Learn more about the collaboration between the NCI and the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation enabling the Health of Women Study project.
