Todd Sigmon, the Executive Director of Oncology at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, said Monday at least 400 people are needed to participate in the Gainesville-area study, although he said organizers can make room for more than that if needed.
A kick-off event for the study was held on February 26 and now Sigmon said the next step is to screen participants on April 23 and 24 at NGMC.
Sigmon said participants should be between the ages of 30 and 65 and never been diagnosed with any form of cancer. He said there are two portions to the study - an online survey and a blood sample.
"[The survey] asks a bunch of questions about your family history, your lifestyle, behaviors, things you eat, things like that," said Sigmon. "Then, the on-site portion of it is the part where you come and you actually give a little bit of blood."
Sigmon said participants will be asked to take follow-up online surveys periodically over the years to determine any changes in habits.
Then, should any study participant develop cancer in the future, researchers can review the online surveys and take a look at the blood sample to see what pre-existing elements might have been present that doctors should have been looking for.
"They'll go back and actually pull the blood that you donated and look for certain characteristics that could have...[indicated] you had a disposition to cancer," said Sigmon.
He said in the United States one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives.
"This [the study] is a gift that you're giving to your kids and your grandkids. This is something that's going to help the people that may go on to be diagnosed with cancer."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/3/259747