Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry
About the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry
Organization
Funding Sources
Information for Local Cancer Registrars
Frequently Asked Questions
About the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry
The Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry (GBACR) gathers information on all cancers diagnosed and treated in a nine-county area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties). The GBACR collects data from medical records provided by hospitals, doctors, and other medical facilities.
Information collected by the GBACR is used to better understand cancer occurrence and survival in the Greater Bay Area. The registry includes data on cancer type, extent of disease, treatment and survival as well as basic demographic information like age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Because our population includes persons of many different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, the registry data give us opportunities to learn how such characteristics may be related to cancer causes, mortality, care and prevention.
In addition to local analyses, information collected by the GBACR is part of other larger population-based registries. Five counties in the GBACR (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo) have contributed data to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program since its beginning in 1973; the other four counties joined SEER in 1992. All nine counties are also a part of the statewide California Cancer Registry (CCR), which was established in 1988. The SEER program and the CCR provide essential information about cancer occurrence and survival in the United States and California, respectively. All information collected on cancer patients is stored under secure conditions with strict regulations that protect confidentiality.
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Organization
The GBACR consists of two components: (1) Registry Operations and (2) Surveillance Research. Registry Operations is responsible for collecting and managing the data, while Surveillance Research is responsible for conducting research using cancer registry data and examining patterns of cancer incidence in the Greater Bay Area.
Funding Sources
The GBACR receives major funding from the National Cancer Institute, the California Department of Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its operations. In addition, many research studies are conducted using GBACR data; these studies are funded primarily by the National Cancer Institute.
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