Kevin Ward

• MPH, Emory University
• PhD, Emory University
• BIE, Georgia Institute of Technology

Current/Recent Positions

2021-2025  Treasurer - North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) 

2019-2025   Executive Board Member, NAACCR

2014-2019   Advisory Committee, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Izmir Hub

2014-2018  Executive Board, North American Representative, International Association of Cancer Registries

2009-present   Chair, Data Evaluation and Certification Committee, NAACCR

2009-present   Member, Winship Cancer Institute, Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program

Current Contracts / Grants (Active in 2025)

Georgia Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Registry - Role: PI         

This contract covers the operational activities of the population-based Georgia Cancer Registry for the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program. It has been in operation since 1975 covering 5 metropolitan Atlanta counties.  The registry expanded in 2010 to cover the entire state of Georgia providing statewide data back to 2000.  The registry supports cancer control, prevention, and research activities across the state and contributes to the overall mission of the Surveillance Research Program at the NCI.      

Operation of Statewide Cancer Registry, GA. Dept. of PH - Role: Subcontract PI 

This contract covers the operational activities of the population-based Georgia Cancer Registry (GCR) for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Program of Cancer Registries, established in 1995.  The Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics at Emory University is the subcontractor for the state of Georgia Department of Public Health for conducting this public health surveillance activity.  Cancer is a reportable disease in every state, mandated by law, and the GCR supports the registration of each cancer case within the state of Georgia.                                                    

Identifying factors associated with prostate cancer progression and survival in African American men: The RESPOND Cohort-  Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

The goal of this project is to leverage the RESPOND recruitment infrastructure and research expertise to update comorbidities, lifestyle behaviors, experience of stress, access to care, and neighborhood environmental data, as well as to obtain information on prostate cancer oncologic outcomes including disease progression/recurrence (P/R) and mortality.

Family RESPOND: Defining the Genetic Basis of Prostate Cancer Risk in African American Families – Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

The proposed study aims to define the genetic factors underlying familial prostate cancer and other hereditary cancers in African American families. To accomplish this, we will leverage RESPOND, a landmark study of 12,000 African American prostate cancer survivors identified through population-based registries from across the United States, including 6,500 with DNA and genetic information.

Genetic Testing, Treatment Use, and Mortality after Diagnosis of Breast and Ovarian Cancer - Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

The purpose of the proposed research is to gain a better understanding of how genetic testing is deployed in a large representative cancer patient population, how test results are managed and the impact of test results on treatment use and cancer mortality.  Specific focus will be given to potential disparities in test use and results across sociodemographic and clinical subgroups. 

A Registry-Based Study of Patterns of Use of Targeted Therapies for Metastatic Cancers in Diverse Populations - Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

One of the most important advances in cancer care in recent history is the rapid dissemination of targeted therapy (both molecularly targeted kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors) into the care of patients with metastatic cancer. The goals of this study are to identify groups of patients with metastatic cancers who are vulnerable to non-receipt of targeted therapies, to identify medical oncologists who are less likely to prescribe targeted therapies and to quantify and explain the influence of attending medical oncologist on variation in use of targeted therapies.

Risk stratified survivorship care pathways for early-onset colorectal cancer - Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

The overall goal of the proposed study is to develop stratified survivorship care pathways for patients with early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC). The Georgia Cancer Registry (GCR) will participate in early-onset CRC patient identification, cancer recurrence identification, and survey recruitment activities with the hopes of identifying patterns of recurrence among a diverse, population-based sample of patients with early-onset CRC and characterizing surveillance intensity and survivorship care needs among these patients

Examining the Impact of Structural Racism on African American Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Mutational Signatures and Outcomes -  Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

The proposed investigation aims to examine the impact of structural racism on African American non-small cell lung cancer mutational signatures and outcomes.  We aim to determine the extent to which exposure to structural racism over time is linked with differences in NSCLC tumor evolution by characterizing the types of mutations, the order of their acquisition, and the activity of mutational processes.

Personalized Cancer Support for Young Adults – Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

Through an individually randomized controlled trial of AYA survivors with low-risk thyroid cancer, melanoma, and testicular cancer, this study proposes to evaluate the effectiveness of a tailored post-treatment mobile optimized psychosocial support tool.

Refined Capture-Recapture Methods for Surveilling Cancer Recurrence - Role: Co-Investigator

The goal of this study is to develop best statistical practices for estimating case totals by means of a novel C-R estimator that harnesses the power of the principled sampling effort behind the anchor stream while offering markedly enhanced precision. We propose to extend our approach to account for misclassification, which is induced in the case of our motivating studies when surveillance streams identify potential true recurrences in an error-prone manner.

Flexible NLP Toolkit for Automatic Curation of Outcomes for Breast Cancer Patients  - Role: Subcontract PI

The goal of this study is to build a flexible natural language processing (NLP) toolset that can be executed locally at the institution level and will curate the clinical and patient-centered outcomes of breast cancer patients by parsing longitudinally acquired clinic notes, radiology and pathology reports.

Improving Our Understanding of Breast Cancer Mortality Disparities through Recurrence: A Multi-Level Approach among Women in Georgia - Role: Co-Investigator

The proposed study will advance our understanding of multi-level drivers of demographic disparities in recurrence and breast cancer-specific mortality, and facilitate prioritization of intervention targets.

Risk-stratified care for thyroid cancer survivors - Role: Subcontract PI / Co-Investigator

The goal of this study is to develop risk-stratified surveillance care pathways that will allow select thyroid cancer patients to be informed of their cancer cure while allowing for more focus on intermediate to high-risk thyroid cancer patients, who need more physician time and resources.

Improving measurement of cancer registry completeness - Role: Co-Investigator

The goal of this study is to develop new methods to estimate cancer registry completeness that will address known shortcomings and improve the rigor, reproducibility, and transparency of the measurement of cancer registry completeness

Innovative Examples of Registry Involvement of Surveillance System Enhancement

Machine Learning

The National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program is collaborating with the Department of Energy (DOE) on a 5-year pilot project that focuses on the use of high-performance computing to support cancer surveillance. One part of the NCI-DOE Collaboration applies advanced computational capabilities and deep learning methods to population-based cancer data to understand the impact of new diagnostics, treatments, and other factors affecting patient outcomes.  The Georgia SEER Registry is an integral part of this important work.

Precision Cancer Surveillance

In an effort to adapt our cancer registry infrastructure to more fully inform national policy and most effectively meet today’s research needs, the NCI SEER Program seeks to capture clinically important data through a collaboration with commercial genomic and genetic testing companies. These companies are an integral part of cancer patient care and provide complex data that can help classify patient’s risk, guide treatment options, inform prognosis and predict response to specific therapies.  The Georgia SEER Registry has led work in this area through developing a sustainable and scaleable infrastructure for these linkages.    

Enhanced Treatment Data

The Georgia SEER Registry is leading work to enhance NCI SEER data with claims through public health reporting.  A first-of-its-kind pharmacy data linkage with the Georgia registry was a step toward utilizing public health reporting to ensure the completeness and accuracy of cancer surveillance data in registres and enchance the surveillance infrastructure through longitudinal data collection that supports the ability to examine cancer treatment patterns and adherence over time.  Numerous other similar linkages are underway. 

View My Complete List of Published Work at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/18y8r6aFdefkr/bibliography/public/