Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks
Working together to share knowledge and expertise
The Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks (CSEN) were established to support cancer control strategies across Canada. CSEN stimulates the creation of high quality information products that can be used to shape and monitor cancer control interventions. It is a strategic initiative of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, through its Surveillance portfolio.
CSEN connects experts across the country and fosters collaboration among provinces and disciplines to reduce information gaps and enhance cancer surveillance capacity.
The initiative will increase production and dissemination of Canadian cancer surveillance information across the cancer continuum from risk factors and prevention to end-of-life care, using currently available data. Short reports, peer-reviewed articles, fact sheets, monographs and other products will be targeted to various audiences to increase information use and promote evidence-based decision-making.
Over time, with the participation from key organizations that share the objective of reducing the cancer burden in Canada, CSEN will improve comprehensiveness and timeliness of cancer surveillance information products, analytic capacity and the use of surveillance knowledge.
Networks, within their area of expertise, must:
1. Generate new knowledge
- • Implement standard best-practice methods
- • Use existing data to generate timely and relevant information products across the whole cancer control continuum
- • Produce cancer surveillance at national and provincial/territorial levels
2. Develop analytic capacities
- • Mentor junior analysts
- • Provide standardized methods, tools and training
- • Share statistical programs through an online library
3. Implement a Knowledge Translation strategy
- • Support the establishment of collaborative, multidisciplinary and inter-provincial teams
- • Develop and adopt processes to better inform cancer control initiatives
- • Identify and integrate stakeholder needs to make products relevant
- • Customize audience-specific products for decision-makers and policy-makers, health care practitioners and the general public
The Networks
Four pan-Canadian analytic networks were selected at the first competition:
Governance
The Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks (CSENs) are a strategic initiative of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. The Partnership will provide a total of $3.3M over approximately 3 years to support the activities of the Networks.
Governance of the Initiative:
An International Scientific Advisory Committee reports to the Partnership. Comprised of independent internationally acknowledged experts Link to the membership list, it will meet regularly with the Networks. Its main functions are to:
- • Provide scientific leadership and strategic direction for the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Networks’ initiative and its components,
- • Promote the production and the usage of high scientific quality surveillance and epidemiology information and knowledge in all areas of cancer control in Canada.
Every four months, PI meetings provide a high-level platform to discuss operations and updates between the Partnership and the Network PI’s. The objective of the meeting is to provide a platform for exchanging information on the progress, coordination, difficulties, and upcoming issues of the Networks. The Partnership monitors the progress of the project undertaken by each Network through the provision of scheduled Quarterly deliverables.
An Evaluation and Sustainability Working Group, with evaluation experts and representatives from the Networks and the Partnership Surveillance team, will soon be created to implement an evaluation strategy, in collaboration with the International Scientific Advisory Committee. This evaluation will combine a formative and a summative approach to assess the value created through this initiative and how Networks facilitate the enhancement of cancer surveillance in Canada.
Governance of the Networks:
Each Network is led by Principal investigator (PI) and assisted by a Core Project Team working in partnership with partners and/or collaborators across the country. Each Network also relies on its own Steering Committee or Methodology Working Group to advise and assist on data analysis, interpretation, and knowledge transfer. Committee members include representatives from partners and/or Collaborators as well as external experts.
Provincial cancer registries are at the centre of the projects undertaken by three of the four Networks (CRC-Net, CProj, and CSPAN) which share several challenges with respect to methodologies and data access. To coordinate efforts and ensure consistencies in the approaches of addressing these issues, these Networks share a common Registry-based Networks Advisory Committee. Members of the committees are included in the Networks’ membership list (Link to the Networks membership list).
Networks’ Partners
Partners and collaborators are affiliated to more than 40 different organizations. The diversity of organization contributing to the Networks projects demonstrates that they are both well connected to the cancer control community, from health care services to decision makers, and that the conditions are optimal for efficient surveillance knowledge uptake by these organizations. These conditions are essential to obtain informed decisions and practices.
Networks’ Members
More than a hundred individuals contribute to the Networks’ projects. They are affiliated to Cancer agencies, Public Health Institutions, Universities, Community and social organisations, Health Care services and others. Their expertise ranges from epidemiology, statistics, knowledge translation and exchange, cancer care delivery, cancer registry, project management and so on.
To know more about them, please consult the list of members. This Excel worksheet can be sorted according to your fields of preference
Last updated: August 24, 2010
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