04 - Cancer Control and Population Sciences

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ABSTRACT – CANCER CONTROL AND POPULATION SCIENCES (CCPS) PROGRAM Overview and Goals: The cancer burden in Alabama exceeds that of the US, largely due to poverty and prevalent risk factors (e.g., obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, low HPV vaccination) and is higher among rural, Non-Hispanic Black, and select immigrant populations. The CCPS Program goal is to advance high impact, paradigm-shifting, multidisciplinary translational research across the cancer continuum to reduce the cancer burden in our catchment area and beyond. Research Highlights: For primary prevention, CCPS members developed and tested a culturally relevant intervention that increased HPV vaccination rates among daughters of LatinX immigrants and partnered with the Alabama Department of Public Health to increase HPV vaccination rates from 35 to 50 percent in one year. In cancer patients and survivors, CCPS study teams tested and translated innovative strategies to promote medication adherence for dissemination in the Children’s Oncology Group and promoted safe weight loss as well as improved diet and physical activity in rural, minorities with obesity in a P01 project. CCPS members, experts in palliative care, disseminated an evidence based, end of life intervention to 45 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers nationwide, and are adapting interventions to address caregivers in rural Alabama and in 48 National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program practices. Program Activities: CCPS research is catalyzed by bidirectional communication with the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination office, intra- and inter-programmatic subgroups, seminars, retreats, internal scientific peer-review and informal chaperoning of transdisciplinary collaborations. Integral support is provided by Shared Resources (70% utilized by CCPS members) and the O’Neal Invests Program ($638K from 14 pilot awards leveraged $2.4M in extramural funding). The UAB-Tuskegee-Morehouse School of Medicine partnership and collaborations with other university centers (e.g., Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, and Transdisciplinary Health Disparities Research Center) facilitate our research that targets cancer disparities. Collectively, this support was integral to the awards that drive our program goal, e.g., 1 P01, 3 U01s and 29 collaborative R01’s. Members: CCPS members include 36 faculty from 13 Departments and 5 Schools, who obtained a total of $8.2M annual program peer-reviewed direct costs (2021) including a 22% increase in NCI funding ($5.1M). CCPS members are highly productive and collaborative, as shown by its (704) cancer-focused publications in the current CCSG cycle (2016-2021), of which 29% were intra-programmatic, 30% inter-programmatic, 77% inter-institutional, and 10% in journals with an impact factor ≥ 9.0. Future Directions: We contribute to, and are guided by, the O’Neal Strategic Plan, and have set benchmarks to advance and translate discoveries in cancer prevention and detection, obesity and cancer, and mitigating morbidity and mortality after cancer.