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The term “cancer survivor” has been used to convey various meanings over time. When cancer was considered incurable, “survivor” described family members who had lost a loved one to cancer 1. With time, as treatments improved, “survivor” referred to individuals who remained cancer-free for a minimum of 5 years 2,3. The U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Survivorship definition states that an “individual is considered a cancer survivor from the time of diagnosis, through the balance of his or her life” 4. Most commonly, survivorship is described as a distinct phase in the cancer trajectory that occurs between the end of primary treatment and recurrence or end of life 5,6.  The number of cancer survivors has risen considerably in recent decades as a result of advances in prevention, screening, and treatment. Currently in Canada, close to 1 million people are living as cancer survivors 7. Today, approximately 65% of adults and 80% of children diagnosed with cancer are expected to live at least 5 years post diagnosis. Approximately 1 in 46 Canadians (2.2%) who were diagnosed with one or more primary invasive cancers in 1995 were alive 10 years later on January 1, 2005 7. As survival rates improve and the length of survival time increases, developing a national research agenda in Canada to inform health care service delivery to survivors and to foster collaboration between stakeholders is essential 8.  Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and more recently, Australia have been active in establishing cancer survivorship as an area of priority in cancer control. Although realized somewhat differently in each country, some shared priorities have been identified, including the development of effective care models and interventions; the investigation of long-term effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment on patients, their families, and caregivers; and the needs and characteristics of unique or disadvantaged populations 9,10. Translating those priorities into an active research agenda that will inform best practice and lead to improved care for survivors is the logical next step. And yet achieving this goal poses many challenges given the relatively small Canadian research capacity in this area. El Ansari et al. 11 suggested that, to accelerate research activity, research consortiums deserve attention by funding bodies. We agree, and we propose the establishment of a consortium to advance needed work in cancer survivorship in Canada.  A research consortium has been described as a group of individuals or organizations that works collaboratively with respect to a particular theme or funding strategy 11. At both the national and international levels, consortia have been reported in cancer prevention 12, quality of life 13, and epidemiology 14, among other applications. The Lance Armstrong Foundation created a network of eight comprehensive cancer centers, the LiveStrong Survivorship Centers of Excellence Network 15, but we know of no efforts to create a research consortium in the field of survivorship. Consortia would seem to be an ideal approach where research capacity is limited and where broad interest in a particular research theme area has been apparent. That statement would appear to describe the situation of the psychosocial aspects of cancer survivorship in Canada.

A Call for Action in Survivorship Research and Care