Please join us for our next NAACCR Epi 'Hour'!
The NAACCR Epi 'Hour' is an informal network and training session for central registry analysts and other cancer surveillance researchers. These 90 minutes on-line sessions are structured into three parts-a brief intro activity, followed by a training, and culminated by small group discussions on the topic. They are intended to increase communication among NAACCR members, provide RDU-tailored training, and promote professional relationships among cancer registry analysts, statisticians, and epidemiologists. The bulk of the session is the training portion, which is recorded and re-released through the NAACCR Training website.
NAACCR Epi 'Hour': Closing the Gaps in Geospatial Cancer Analysis
April 13, 2026, 2 pm Eastern Time
Registration: https://naaccr.zoom.us/meeting/register/4jPkWDKeQHSEm51v5ZBpdA
Cancer registries and surveillance programs face a persistent challenge: the spatial and temporal dimensions of cancer incidence and mortality are analyzed in separate, often incompatible tools - SaTScan for cluster detection, NCI Joinpoint for trend analysis, ArcGIS for mapping, etc - with insufficient integration and no statistical guidance on method selection. This fragmented workflow consumes expert time, limits what junior analysts can do independently, and leaves critical geographic questions unanswered.
Vesta is a unified geospatial analysis platform developed by BioMedware that brings together spatial cluster detection, geostatistical modeling, spatial joinpoint regression, and AI-guided method selection in a single environment purpose-built for cancer epidemiologists. Developed over three decades of NIH- and NCI-funded research, Vesta's methods are grounded in peer-reviewed geostatistics and designed to produce publication-ready, defensible results - without requiring GIS expertise.
In this session, Dr. Geoff Jacquez will present the conceptual framework for integrated geospatial cancer analysis, and Dr. Pierre Goovaerts will lead a live demonstration of Vesta using real cancer data - your workflow challenges and feature priorities, gathered through survey and small group discussion, will feed directly into the BioMedware development roadmap.
Presentations
Closing the Gaps: Integrated Geospatial Analysis for Cancer Control & Surveillance
Geoffrey M. Jacquez, PhD
President and CEO, BioMedware, Inc.
Vesta in Action: Live Demonstration of Data Import, Space-time visualization, Spatial Cluster Detection, Trend Analysis, and AI-Guided Workflows
Pierre Goovaerts, PhD
Chief Scientist, BioMedware, Inc.
Angela Martin, ODS-C
Trainer/Project Coordinator
NAACCR, Inc.
Phone: 217-698-0800 ext. 9
Email: amartin@naaccr.org
Website:naaccr.org
Education and Training Website: education.naaccr.org
