Theme 2: Genetic, Environmental and Social Drivers of Health

What puts you at risk for cancer? Your family history, what you eat, where you live, how much money you make, the environment, your education level, and your access to health care. These are genetic, environmental and social drivers of health, some of which you can control and others you can't.

The Cancer Center is committed to impactful research that mitigates or eliminates these risks and influences clinical guidelines and policies in Illinois and nationally.

Cancer is rising in younger adults — and women are most affected.

In Cook County, cancer is being diagnosed more frequently in younger individuals. When cancer is diagnosed in people less than 50 years of age, it is known as "early-onset cancer".

Between 2018 and 2022, nearly two-thirds of all early-onset cancers were diagnosed in women. In contrast, less than half of all cancers diagnosed in older age groups were in women.

In Cook County, there was a 29% increase in the number of breast cancer cases diagnosed among younger versus older women.

Pie chart showing early-onset cancer rates are higher in women than men in Cook County from 2018 to 2022. — Early-onset cancers are more frequently diagnosed in women than men in Cook County. This trend highlights the need for targeted prevention and screening strategies for younger populations.

Research Translated To Care

Genetic Services

Cancer prevention and control research born out of the Illinois Cancer Health Research (I-CHER) Center at the Cancer Center has translated to the standard of care at our partner UI Health Mile Square Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center that offers cancer genetic services and hereditary cancer risk assessments.

Our Cancer Center Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Clinical Programs team works tirelessly to spread the word about cancer genetic counseling and testing and how family history affects cancer risk, including a halftime radio interview during a UIC Flames men's basketball game.

The Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Clinical Programs team at a UIC Flames basketball game. — Our Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Clinical Programs team helps raise awareness about family history and cancer risk during a UIC Flames basketball halftime interview.

Practice Changing

A study by our scientists, including senior author Kent Hoskins, MD, raises the possibility that a commonly ordered multigene breast cancer biomarker might underestimate the benefit of chemotherapy for non-Hispanic Black women, which could perpetuate disparities in breast cancer survival of estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative tumors by misguiding treatment recommendations. (JNCCN, January 2024)

Health In Extreme Conditions

Kristen Malecki, PhD, co-leader of our Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program, heads the National Institutes of Health-funded Center for Extreme Conditions and Health Excellence, which is dedicated to understanding and addressing the complex relationship between weather, temperature, heat, humidity, air quality, water quality, built environment, urban infrastructure, and human health.

Photo of Kristen Malecki, PhD — Kristen Malecki, PhD, is a co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at the Cancer Center.

Mi Tierra, Mi Cuerpo

A Cancer Center $100K Team Science Award supports research to learn how where we work, live and play affects our cancer risk. The study seeks to define the environmental risk factors that increase susceptibility to early-onset cancers.

Cancer And Diet

Our communities have told us they want dietary interventions to prevent cancer and protect them in survivorship because food is medicine. Our researchers are seeking to uncover those dietary mechanisms and to create diet and lifestyle interventions.

Headshots of Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, Saria Lofton and Jonathan Coloff — Researchers (left to right) Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, PhD, MS, RD, co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program; Saria Lofton, PhD, RN; and Jonathan Coloff, PhD, co-leader of the Cancer Biology Research Program at the Cancer Center, study how diet and lifestyle interventions may help prevent cancer and support survivorship.

Legacy Lives On

Describe the image. — The Richard B. Warnecke fellowship trains the next generation of cancer researchers dedicated to improving cancer outcomes for all.

A recipient of a prestigious trainee fellowship at the Cancer Center named for the late Richard B. Warnecke, PhD, a longtime Cancer Center member and national leader in cancer control research, is part of a project studying differences in access to uveal melanoma care. Many patients face delays in care, especially those in rural and underserved communities, because they struggle to access eye cancer specialists. Gifts totaling more than $428,000 from Barbara Warnecke support the fellowship, named in memory of her husband, which trains the next generation of cancer researchers dedicated to improving cancer outcomes for all.

Clinical Trials

The Cancer Center has a robust clinical trials program designed to answer scientific questions and discover better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

First At FQHC

We administered the first clinical trial of a Multi-Cancer Early Detection test at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), making the technology accessible to the populations served by our partner FQHC and who might otherwise not have access, providing more people the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial.

Our partner FQHC, the UI Health Mile Square Health Center, which includes a network of clinics in Chicago and Rockford, is a vital collaborator with the Cancer Center on cancer prevention and control research.

Mile Square Health Center photo — The Mile Square Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center with a network of clinics in Chicago and Rockford, is a unique part of UI Health and a key Cancer Center partner in expanding access to clinical trials.

ASSETS Series

The Cancer Center’s “ASSETS Series: Structural Solutions to Clinical Research Excellence” is a series of conversations with patients, researchers, survivors, communities, legislative champions, pharmaceutical industry leaders, and healthcare professionals that explores the most effective ways to collaborate with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and safety-net hospitals to expand access to and participation in clinical trials because lifesaving cancer treatments come from clinical trials. Support totaling $85,000 from pharmaceutical company Genentech helped to sponsor this series, along with a UNITY Symposium on precision cancer prevention.

Technology

Our Cancer Center researchers are engaged in projects on promising new AI tools, advanced data science, and innovative technologies for visualizing data geographically, enabling them to better predict and understand cancer risks and personalize patient care.

AI Risk Predictor

Our researchers engaged with healthcare systems and universities across the country on a promising AI tool designed to predict future lung cancer risk in patient populations. (IASLC, September 2025)

Side-by-side photos of Mary Pasquinelli, MD and Frank Weinberg, MD. — Mary Pasquinelli, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, and Frank Weinberg, MD, PhD, are part of the work developing an AI tool to predict lung cancer risk.

Impacts On Health

Our partnership with technology company Pangaea uses AI to comb patient records for data about social drivers of health, such as a patient’s address, which could hint at possible barriers to transportation, medical care, and grocery stores.

Interactive Data For Communities

Sharing hands-on innovative technology with our communities to use to understand the impact of cancer and its risk factors across multiple geographic areas by exploring and visualizing data with our interactive Data Hub for Communities platform.

Policy Teamwork

Group photo of Cancer Center leadership, community advisory board member and Cancer Center staff in Springfield at the State Capitol — Cancer Center leaders, staff, and community partners on Advocacy Day at the Illinois State Capitol.

The Cancer Center worked with Illinois government leaders to enact state policies on tobacco restrictions (Public Act 101-0002); coverage of biomarker testing for cancers with high rates of incidence and death (Public Act 102-0203); representative clinical trials through required reporting and community voice incorporation (Public Act 103-0860); designation of food deserts (Public Act 103-0561); and coverage for genetic testing and evidence-based screenings for an inherited gene mutation (Public Act 103-914).

Impact Report 2026