Environmental Factors and Early-Onset Cancers
Monday, September 22, 2025
University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) researchers, who were awarded a $100,000 Team Science Award from the University of Illinois Cancer Center, want to learn how where we work, live and play affects our cancer risk.
Their study seeks to define the environmental risk factors that increase susceptibility to early-onset cancers, especially among Latinos.
Leading the project are Kristen Malecki, PhD, MPH, and Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, PhD, MS, RD, co-leaders of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at the Cancer Center, and Yamilé Molina, PhD, the Cancer Center Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement.
“Despite tremendous progress in cancer prevention and control, there has been an increase in early-onset cancer incidence among individuals less than 50 years of age, particularly for breast, colorectal, female reproductive, and urinary cancers. Trends are increasing most rapidly among Latino populations,” the researchers explained.
The team is working to recruit a total of 50 eligible participants, who must be patients at UI Health Mile Square Health Center Main or Back of the Yards clinics, Latino, and between the ages of 18 and 35. Study participants will each receive up to $190 upon completion, in addition to parking.
UIC includes the Cancer Center and UI Health, its academic health enterprise.
In addition to leadership roles at the Cancer Center, Malecki is a Professor and Division Director of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the UIC School of Public Health; Tussing-Humphreys is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences; and Molina is Associate Professor in the Division of Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health,
The study team also consists of program coordinators, Monet Jones, MPH, MSW, and Mona Strahan, MPH; graduate assistant Alison Brooks, MPH, and research coordinators Elvia Ramirez, Kira Sampson and Lisset Perez Carapia, MPH.
If you are interested in participating, please call 312-857-8784.
