The Toledo Community Hospital Oncology Program (TCHOP) is one of the original 27 clinical research programs sponsored by the National Cancer Research Institutes (NCI) which continue in operation and celebrated their twentieth anniversary last fall. As such, TCHOP brings top-notch cancer prevention and treatment research findings to both urban and rural communities throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

Clinical Community Oncology Programs (CCOPs) were founded on the belief that advances in cancer care are a direct result of participation in clinical trials, and that involvement of dedicated community physicians and staff would provide the necessary volume of patients to answer clinical research questions in a timely manner. Due to the effective collaboration of the community and traditional research centers at universities, much of the cancer care given 20 years ago is not standard care given today, nor will today’s standards be unchanged in the future due to ongoing cancer research efforts.

Over the years, TCHOP has grown to include 13 institutions and six private oncology offices in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. It provides a regional Institutional Review Board to review and monitor cancer research protocols at all participating hospitals and clinics. Paul Schaefer, MD, has been the principal investigator since 1991. Currently, 49 participating physicians from medical and radiation oncology, general surgery, pathology, thoracic surgery and urology play an active role, along with 90 allied health professionals, such as oncology nurses and clinical research assistants. This committed team has been regularly accruing over 100 patients annually on treatment related to research trials.

In 1989, TCHOP became a primary member of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) as secondary research bases. TCHOP physicians have been named as authors on numerous peer reviewed published manuscripts from these research bases. Dr. Schaefer was Chair of the Executive Committee of NCCTG from 1999 to 2003. Many TCHOP physicians have chaired protocols and have served as chairs of the NCCTG Surgery Committee, RTOG Economic Impact Committee and ECOG Quality of Life Committee.

Looking back over the past 20 years, TCHOP can be proud of its accomplishments. Toledo has made a major contribution in the success of the NCI sponsored community- based research effort, and at the same time this participation has provided our community state-of-the-art cancer care. TCHOP is committed to continuing these efforts in meeting the challenge of cancer.