Rutgers-led consortium wins $6.5 million NCI grant to model lung cancer prevention and tobacco control

A Rutgers-led consortium has been awarded a $6.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop next-generation tools intended to guide tobacco control policies, improve lung cancer screening, strengthen survivorship care, and support state-level cancer prevention planning. The five-year award is made through the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network, known as CISNET, a program that has informed national screening guidelines for more than two decades. The funding arrives at a moment when the landscape of lung cancer prevention is shifting quickly, driven by new nicotine products entering the market and by budget cuts affecting established tobacco control programs.

The multidisciplinary research team will be led by Jamie Tam, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute, and a core faculty member at the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies. Tam will serve as the contact principal investigator for the project. Rafael Meza, a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, a core faculty member at the institute, and an adjunct professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will co-lead the team as one of the project’s six Principal Investigators. The collaboration spans seven universities, bringing together teams at Stanford University, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Purdue University, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University.

The scientific core of the effort is a suite of six lung cancer natural history models. These models simulate how lung cancer develops and progresses in populations over time, allowing researchers to project the effects of interventions before they are implemented in the real world. According to Tam, the group has a proven record of clinical and policy impact and will use leading-edge modeling to address emerging challenges and inform decision-making across the lung cancer control continuum. As tobacco use patterns, screening technologies, and treatment approaches evolve, the models are designed to anticipate future challenges and evaluate interventions in advance rather than after policies are already in place.

The urgency of the work is underscored by the continuing burden of the disease. Despite major advances in tobacco control, lung cancer screening, and prevention, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with an estimated 125,000 deaths annually. The newly funded research aims to give policymakers and public health leaders more accurate tools to evaluate emerging tobacco products and their potential impact on population health. With new nicotine products on the market and tobacco control programs facing cuts, the researchers argue that static approaches are insufficient and that modeling can quantify how different regulatory and screening scenarios might play out across the population.

Equity is a central concern of the project. Fewer than 20 percent of eligible individuals receive lung cancer screening, according to the American Cancer Society, despite the proven effectiveness of the test. At the same time, many people diagnosed with lung cancer would not have been eligible for screening under current criteria, meaning existing approaches may miss some individuals at elevated risk. Meza emphasized that simulation modeling and data-driven research are vital to addressing these disparities. By quantifying tobacco use and disease burden in specific subpopulations, the team aims to identify optimal strategies to detect lung cancer early and to reduce lung cancer incidence and mortality within each subpopulation.

The award builds on a long institutional track record. For more than 25 years, the CISNET Lung Working Group has used comparative modeling to evaluate lung cancer prevention and screening strategies. Comparative modeling involves running multiple independent models against the same questions and comparing their outputs, a technique that helps distinguish robust findings from artifacts of any single model’s assumptions. Findings from this work have shaped national lung cancer screening guidelines and policies and continue to inform efforts to reduce the burden of lung cancer in the United States.

Steven K. Libutti, senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health and the William N. Hait director of the Rutgers Cancer Institute, said that as New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, the institute is uniquely positioned to advance research that deepens understanding of the factors that contribute to cancer and identifies opportunities to prevent it. He noted that the Cancer Prevention and Control Program is leading efforts to drive meaningful change through research, evidence-based interventions, and policy initiatives that improve public health and reduce the burden of cancer across communities.

Cristine Delnevo, director of the Rutgers Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies and associate vice chancellor for health policy and regulatory science at Rutgers Health, described the award as a reflection of Rutgers’ longstanding leadership in tobacco research and cancer prevention. Delnevo, who is also a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute, said that by combining expertise in tobacco use, policy, epidemiology, and simulation modeling, the collaboration will generate evidence intended to reduce the burden of lung cancer and improve population health.

The consortium’s agenda covers the full lung cancer control continuum, from prevention through screening to survivorship. On the prevention side, the models will evaluate how emerging tobacco and nicotine products might alter population-level risk, capturing a marketplace that is changing rapidly. On the screening side, the work will address both low uptake among eligible individuals and the limitations of current eligibility criteria. On the survivorship side, the grant will support tools to strengthen care for people living after a lung cancer diagnosis. The state-level planning component is designed to translate national-scale modeling into actionable guidance for cancer prevention programs, giving public health officials a quantitative basis for allocating limited resources as tobacco products, screening technologies, and treatment approaches continue to evolve.

Subject of Research: Cancer intervention and surveillance modeling for lung cancer prevention, screening and tobacco control policy

Article Title: Rutgers-led group receives $6.5 million federal award to advance lung cancer prevention, survivorship and tobacco control policies

Article References: Rutgers-led group receives $6.5 million federal award to advance lung cancer prevention, survivorship and tobacco control policies. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: lung cancer, tobacco control, National Cancer Institute, CISNET, simulation modeling, cancer screening, survivorship, Rutgers, public health, cancer prevention, nicotine products, health policy