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NMTR Medical Director
Charles R. Key, MD, PhDserved as the Principal Investigator of the New Mexico SEER Program since its inception in 1973 until 2003, and he has served as Medical Director since 1969 when the NMTR expanded from its pilot phase to a statewide, population-based, cancer registry. In the early 1970s, he participated in a series of national discussions that led to the establishment of the network of population-based cancer registries known today as the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program.
Dr. Key first documented striking differences in cancer incidence and mortality among New Mexico’s American Indian,
Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations. His research has focused on the operation and utilization of the NMTR
database for descriptive studies of different patterns of cancer incidence, extent of disease at diagnosis, choice
of
treatment and outcome (cancer patient survival). He has been an important force
in the development of cancer surveillance and control efforts, both among
Southwest American Indians and among Alaska natives. He has also established
cooperative relationships with the Indian Health Service, the New Mexico State
Health Department, Los Alamos National Laboratory, UNM researchers, and
researchers at other universities. Dr. Key has been a Board Member of the New
Mexico Division, American Cancer Society (ACS) since 1969. Dr. Key's primary
research interests include pathology, oncology, cancer control and smoking
cessation, skin cancer in New Mexico, cancer incidence in Native Americans and
Hispanics, genetic research, familial cancers in multi-ethnic populations and
breast and cervical cancer surveillance.