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Frequently Asked Questions | UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Office of Population Health (OPH) the cancer center by advising UC Davis Cancer Center Members and Associate Members on study design, facilitating access to data, and conducting data analyses for population-based cancer research projects, addressing the needs of the cancer center catchment population. The OPH mission is to:
    • Develop and strengthen strategic partnerships across UC Davis to further population-based cancer research priorities.
    • Facilitate approval, access, and training/orientation to select population-based datasets for cancer research. This includes the California Cancer Registry (CCR) data and datasets generated through the linkage of CCR data with other statewide datasets.
    • Provide methodological consultation on the design, conduct, and analysis of research studies across the cancer continuum.
    • Disseminate population-based cancer research findings.
    • Facilitate population-based grant proposal development.
    • Strengthen research productivity and the interrelationship between the following cancer center programs:
  • We encourage Cancer Center Members and Associate Members interested in our services to submit a Project Request Form to initiate a discussion with our team. 

  1. Full research projects can take anywhere between 6-12 months from submission of the project request form to completion of the project. Our team will hold several meetings with you over the course of the project to ensure that we meet your project needs. Please plan to submit your project request form 6-12 months in advance of your due date, or as far in advance as possible.
  2. For smaller data requests with a limited/defined scope, please contact us to see if we can accommodate an expedited timeline.
  3. We encourage Cancer Center Members and Associate Members interested in our services to submit a Project Request Form to initiate a discussion with our team.

  1. The California Cancer Registry (CCR) data can be linked to any California or national database (public data or research cohorts). A common one that can be linked is the California Department of Healthcare Access and Innovation (HCAI). Please note that there are fees and multiple levels of approvals depending on the data source and types of linkages. 
  2. A summary of linkages can be found at: https://www.ccrcal.org/wpfd_file/description-of-linkages/
  3. Instructions on how to request CCR data can be found at: https://www.ccrcal.org/retrieve-data/data-for-researchers/how-to-request-ccr-data/

  1. Yes, the California Cancer Registry (CCR) incurs costs for data preparation based on the scope of each data request.
  2. A summary of CCR data preparation costs can be found at: https://www.ccrcal.org/retrieve-data/data-for-researchers/data-preparation-costs/ 
  3. For additional information about cancer data for research, please contact the CCR data disclosure administrator at hs-ccrresearch@ou.ad3.ucdavis.edu. 

The California Cancer Registry (CCR) is part of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program.  SEER’s scope is national while CCR’s scope only includes California. Depending on the needs of your research project, you may consider using SEER or CCR, or both databases. Below are some of the primary benefits of each database.

  • Benefits of SEER:
    • The main benefit of using SEER over CCR is sample size – SEER covers a larger national population which may be better for some research questions. 
    • SEER provides statistical analysis software (SEER*Stat) and online tutorials.
    • The approval to access research data in relatively fast and generally has no cost associated with it. For additional information on SEER databases that researchers can access, visit: https://seer.cancer.gov/data/product-comparison.html 
  • Benefits of CCR: 
    • All of California reports data to SEER; however, certain information, such as geographic data, is not released by SEER due to confidentiality. In addition, some variables created for the California-specific dataset, such as the SES index and comorbidity index, are not reported to SEER.
    • CCR data is typically used when researchers need to add in additional data sources or look at more granular geographical data.  Researchers will also need to work with CCR data if a linkage with another dataset is needed.
    • It may be possible to examine cancer incidence rates for small geographic units (such as MSSA versus county for SEER). 
    • For information on CCR data, please visit:  https://www.ccrcal.org/retrieve-data/data-library/#291-wpfd-data-dictionary

If you would like to speak with us about which database will best meet your project needs, please submit a Project Request Form to initiate a discussion with our Office of Population Health team.

The Office of Population Health (OPH) is dedicated to supporting the cancer center by advising researchers on study design, facilitating data access, and conducting analyses for population-based cancer research projects that address the needs of the cancer center's catchment population.

We encourage researchers interested in our services to submit a Project Request Form to initiate a discussion with our team. Our team includes experienced epidemiologists who are well-versed in relevant variables for your research and may be able to suggest potential collaborators.

Yes. CalEnviroScreen is a dataset which has modeled data on PM2.5, pesticides, and other environmental pollutants. 

  • Pesticide-related Data. If you’re specifically looking for more detailed pesticide-related data, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Pesticide Use Report Program is recognized as the most comprehensive in the world and can provide individual pesticide classes. For additional information or to access the data, visit the Pesticide Use Reporting webpage. 
  • The California People and Pesticides Explorer is a tool that makes it easier to view, map, and download California’s pesticide use data, and serves as a resource for scientists, growers, advocates, and the general public. This interactive tool allows users to view pesticide use data alongside demographic data in a variety of census geographies including townships, zip codes, and counties. For additional information or to access the tool, visit the PesticideInfo | California People and Pesticides Explorer  webpage. 

  • The University of California Health System, with 18 health professional schools, six medical centers, and 10 hospitals, has built a secure central data warehouse for operational improvement, promotion of quality patient care, and to enable the next generation of clinical research. The UCHDW currently contains data on 8.7 million patients seen at a UC facility since 2012. These patients received care in approximately 378 million encounters. In those encounters, UCH conducted over 1 billion procedures, ordered or prescribed more than 1.3 billion medications, made more than 5.2 billion vital signs and test result measurements, including 35,000 sequenced cancer genomes, and assigned more than 1.1 billion diagnosis codes. Over 800,000 of these patients receive primary care through UCH. 
  • This data warehouse is used to construct several secure web-based dashboards, enabling strategic and operational leaders and clinical directors to see and compare current healthcare quality and costs across the University of California. De-identification of the data has already been completed to enable clinical research projects, under guidance from UC campus institutional review boards, privacy and compliance officers, and information security officers. This data is stored in the OMOP open vendor-neutral data model, enabling a wide range of software tools and computational methods to be used consistently with other state and national efforts. This comprehensive view of UC-wide health data is utilized for comparative analysis to drive population health studies and improve the delivery of patient care across the state of California.
  • Center for Data-driven Insights and Innovation (CDI2) oversees the UCH Data Warehouse (UCHDW). For more information, please visit the CDI2 webpage.