$2.7M grant awarded for VC and colorectal cancer screening

Please join us in congratulating Drs. Perry Pickhardt from the Department of Radiology and Maureen Smith from the Health Innovation Program, who recently received a $2.7M grant entitled “Virtual Colonoscopy and Colorectal Cancer Screening”. This grant represents a unique collaboration between the Department of Radiology and the Health Innovation Program to investigate the dissemination of the technology developed by the UW Radiology team and the impact of this new technique on colorectal cancer screening. The proposal leverages the seminal work of Dr. Pickhardt and his colleagues in Radiology with the extensive patient-level data on defined populations available through the Health Innovation Program led by Maureen Smith. The University of Wisconsin is the only center in the US with broad commercial insurance coverage for both VC and OC screening, uniquely positioning us to address whether the introduction of VC increases the likelihood of colorectal cancer screening/prevention. In addition, with this R01 grant, we plan to investigate which PCP characteristics influence the adoption of VC and to identify if certain perceived advantages and disadvantages of VC affect the extent to which a PCP uses VC. Please join me in congratulating Drs. Pickhardt, Smith and the entire UW team for receiving this prestigious award. The grant award is strong recognition of the outstanding work that the UW CT colonography team has accomplished already, including all of the nurses, technologists, trainees and faculty involved in the project. In addition, the grant will ensure that the UW maintains its leadership position in this area through this important collaboration between the Department of Radiology and the Health Innovation Program.