Cancer registrars throughout the United States and abroad will join their colleagues, community leaders and other medical professionals to observe the 15th annual National Cancer Registrars Week (NCRW) -- a week designed to recognize the important contributions made by cancer registry professionals. The 2011 theme, Cancer Registrars Pave the Way to a Cure, demonstrates that cancer registry professionals are a vital source on the road to cancer control and a cure. Cancer registry professionals pave that road with their skill and commitment to collecting and processing quality cancer data. 

"Quality cancer data is central to the nation's fight against cancer, and cancer registrars are the first link in capturing that data. National Cancer Registrars Week provides an opportunity to acknowledge the central role registrars play in the research, treatment and prevention of cancer," noted NCRA President Susan M. Koering, MEd, RHIA, CTR.

Cancer registrars work in a variety of cancer treatment and research settings and manage a wide range of demographic and medical data on those with cancer. The information is both submitted and utilized by state and national cancer registries to enable cancer programs to accurately determine cancer patient populations, measure outcomes of treatment and survival, and formulate plans for improvement. The data is included in numerous publications, including the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, a collaboration of the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. The report uses cancer registry data to provide updated information on cancer occurrence and trends.

The National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) and the NCRW committee would like to thank all cancer registry professionals who are dedicated to the profession and who promote the work of cancer registrars. In a year full of exciting new changes in the cancer registry profession, we know you are all planning NCRW 2011 celebrations and cannot wait to hear about them. Congratulations!

For more information on NCRW, visit www.ncra-usa.org/ncrw2011. To learn more about the great work cancer registrars are doing, go to www.ncra-usa.org.

Kristine A. Marbaugh is chair of the NCRW committee for the National Cancer Registrars Association.