May 27, 2005
New program seeks to reduce cancer's impact in minority and underserved populations
Karen Emmons, PhD
Dana-Farber staff members are helping launch a community-based program aimed at reducing cancer disparities in minority and underserved populations through prevention and early detection efforts.
The program, called MASS CONECT (Massachusetts Community Networks to Eliminate Cancer Disparities through Education, Research and Training), has received $500,000 for the first year of a five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
MASS CONECT will involve representatives from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). It will establish a network of community leaders, academic cancer control researchers, policymakers, state and local public health agencies, local media, and public health and health care practitioners in Boston and Worcester (the two largest cities in Massachusetts), and in Lawrence, the city with the lowest per-capita income in New England. In addition, an advisory group will work with local community members to gather information and help them use it.
Among the project's co-investigators are Dana-Farber's Karen Emmons, PhD, associate director of the DF/HCC Initiative to Eliminate Cancer Disparities; Elizabeth Barbeau, DSc; and Vish Viswanath, PhD. All three serve on the faculty of the HSPH, which received the grant.
Says Emmons: "This comprehensive initiative will link HSPH and the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center with multiple community partners to advance cancer education; stimulate community-based participatory research and state/local level policy initiatives; provide training in cancer prevention and disparities for junior faculty, grassroots leaders, and the media; and increase use of cancer prevention and clinical services among residents of low socioeconomic levels in these three urban communities."
The network will develop programs for cancer prevention and early detection interventions in underserved communities. Interventions will include smoking cessation, healthy eating and physical activity, and early detection and treatment of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. Key community coalitions include the Alliance for Community Health (Boston), Boston REACH 2010 Coalition, the Mayor's Health Task Force of Lawrence, and Common Pathways in Worcester.
"MASS CONECT represents a major opportunity to bring together these multiple partners and maximize precious resources," says principal investigator Howard Koh, MD, of the School of Public Health and former commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. "We believe that the network offers an extraordinary model that will integrate partners in an unprecedented fashion."
Funding for MASS CONECT is part of a larger Community Networks Program announced by the Department of Health and Human Services on May 6. Other co-investigators include JudyAnn Bigby, MD, director of the Office for Women, Family and Community Programs at BWH, and Nancy Krieger, PhD, of the HSPH.
"This is an extraordinary and unique opportunity to make a dent into disparities related to cancer," Viswanath says, "and we are delighted to partner with communities and to work with them."
