Community Outreach and Engagement

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COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT: PROJECT SUMMARY The Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center (MCC) is nationally recognized for engaging the communities it serves in research addressing cancer disparities, facilitating access to high-quality cancer screening and treatment, providing education on best cancer prevention practices, and advancing public policy changes that reduce the cancer burden in Virginia and beyond. The MCC catchment area includes 66 contiguous localities (47 counties and 19 independent cities) in central, southern, and eastern Virginia across urban and rural settings with diverse and underserved populations. Vanessa B. Sheppard, PhD, Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), directs an Office of COE to 1) connect catchment-area communities to cancer risk education, screening, and treatment; 2) cultivate interest among MCC investigators across basic, clinical, translational, and population sciences to conduct research addressing catchment-area burden, disparities, and community priorities; 3) establish a formal process by which community members inform research activities; 4) collaborate with the MCC Clinical Trials Office to improve accruals of individuals underrepresented in research; and 5) promote local, state, and national policies that impact cancer prevention, care delivery, and cancer control. Based on community data and input that played a significant role in framing the MCC 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, research and COE priorities include cancer disparities; survivorship; prevention, early detection, and treatment for lung, gastrointestinal, breast, and prostate cancers; and implementing impactful behavioral interventions to reduce cancer risk (e.g., tobacco control and obesity reduction). To assess the impact of COE efforts, the Office of COE uses a logic model with short-term (e.g., expand reach, enhance services, augment collaborations) and long-term metrics (e.g., decrease cancer burden, increase cancer health equity). Future plans include 1) partnering with Statistical Analysis System to augment the COE’s current capabilities to report comprehensive data for monitoring the catchment-area cancer risk and burden; 2) strengthening COE communication channels through bidirectional information flow and participation between the community and MCC investigators to build robust trust that allows for mutual decision making, leading to better health outcomes; 3) expanding COE education, screening, and clinical research participation initiatives tailored for racial/ethnic minority and other potentially underserved populations (e.g., elderly, LGBTQ+); 4) building on relationships with the Eastern Virginia Medical School and two Historically Black Universities (Norfolk State University and Hampton University) to launch targeted COE initiatives in the coastal Hampton Roads area; and 5) deploying new mobile units to extend COE’s reach in rural communities throughout the catchment area.