Community Outreach and Engagement awarded five seed grants totaling $45,000 to support community-engaged research projects proposed by University of Illinois Cancer Center members.
The funded projects and principal investigators are:
- Centering care with community stakeholders for innovative approaches to cervical cancer control. PIs: Caryn Peterson, PhD, Gelila Goba, MD, MPH, and Shannon MacLaughlan, MD
- Improving oral health and oral cancer screening for Southside Chicago residents. PIs: Guy Adami, PhD, and Joel Schwartz, DMD, PhD
- Examining colorectal, breast and prostate cancer screening and diagnosis among Chicago Community Health Center patients during the pandemic. PIs: Keith Naylor, MD, and Shelly Sital, MPH
- Activation of the androgen reception by tyrosine kinases in prostate cancer. PIs: Alan Diamond, PhD and Angela Tyner, PhD
- Promotion of low-dose CT screening in Northern Illinois and identification of blood biomarkers for early detection of lung cancer. PI: Neelu Puri, Phd
The seed grants are intended to drive collaborations among the three cancer research programs—cancer biology, cancer prevention and control, and translational oncology—and the people served by the science, said Yamilé Molina, PhD, associate director for community outreach and engagement.
“Research and funding shouldn’t be barriers that prevent scientists from engaging with patients and community stakeholders,” Molina said. “These seed grants give Cancer Center members the ability to leverage COE services to advance the scientific understanding of cancer by layering on perspectives from the people we intend to help.”