Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers

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Abstract Cancer is the second leading cause of death among men and women in Texas with incidence and mortality rates of 147.4 and 158.8 per 100,000, respectively. African Americans and Hispanics have significantly higher rates of some cancers and experience cancer-related health disparities. In Texas, a highly diverse state, screening and prevention behaviors remain below national recommendations for African American and Hispanics living in both rural and urban settings. Notably, Texas ranks 48th in colorectal cancer screening nationwide and 47th for HPV vaccination. Our long-term goal is to decrease cancer-related morbidity and mortality and health disparities among African Americans and Hispanics in urban and rural settings in Texas. The proposed University of Texas Prevention Research Center's (UTPRC) theme is, “Accelerating Cancer Control to Decrease Health Disparities.” The mission of the UTPRC is to increase the use of evidence-based cancer control interventions, policies, and guidelines in communities and healthcare settings through a collaboration of academic, public health, and community partnerships engaged in practice-based, community-engaged prevention research, research translation, and education. The proposed UTPRC includes cores that will advance training, research translation, and community engagement, and ensure rapid and effective communication of UTPRC research results and products. We will create a network of community partners across Texas called PACE (Partners Accelerating Cancer Control Evidence) to target cancer control in urban and rural minority communities. We will use UT School of Public Health Regional infrastructure in six areas around Texas to ensure access to vulnerable populations and accelerate scale up and spread of effective programs. We also propose an innovative core research project testing new implementation strategies that link communities and healthcare settings to increase cancer control and reduce cancer-related health disparities. The UTPRC will advance the field of prevention research and implementation science by: training public health professionals and community partners, engaging community partners in pragmatic prevention and implementation research, evaluating the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of implementation strategies on increased use of evidence-based cancer control interventions, and disseminating effective interventions across Texas and the U.S. We will continue to collaborate with other PRCs through our long-standing participation in thematic networks. Ultimately, the proposed PRC will advance the field of implementation and prevention science to reduce cancer burden and health disparities among vulnerable populations in Texas.