City-Wide Cancer Disparities Conference

We heard very moving personal stories from some cancer survivors and ‘pep rally’ encouragement from a former Eagles player.
Everyone gave input into helping us process the Listening Sessions and think about our future research and program priorities to reduce cancer disparities in Philadelphia.

Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH

PC3 Academic Partner, Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

On June 15, 2023 representatives from health systems, cancer centers, stakeholders, and Philadelphia community members discussed concerns about cancer in the region and charted a path forward to reduce disparities in our city.

The group was assembled by the Philadelphia Communities Conquering Cancer (PC3) collaboration, whose mission is to empower Philadelphians to reduce cancer disparities through community engagement, resource alignment, information sharing, research, and prevention. An opportunity funded by PCORI.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research, or CER. The studies funded are designed to produce reliable, useful information that will help patients, family caregivers, clinicians, employers, insurers, policy makers, and others make better informed health and healthcare decisions. The work is guided by a Board of Governors representing the entire healthcare community. The coalition is made up of representatives from Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. The funded project is “Building Capacity for Patient Centered Outcomes Research through a City-Wide Cancer Coalition.” Community members, patients, and stakeholders are the cornerstone of the project. The SAC guides all proposed activities and play key roles in planning, implementation, and dissemination. Additional community members and stakeholders host the listening sessions, participate in the consensus conference, and speak during the research advocate training program.

Visit the website to learn more about the programs, leadership, and community partners.

ACC Population Science Research Seminar, February 20, 2020

Join us next Thursday, February 20th for the ACC Population Science Seminar – “Helping Parents Quit Smoking in Pediatric Settings”.
Please reply with your RSVP by Monday, February 17th.

The Cancer Control Program is one of two Population Science Research Programs of the Abramson Cancer Center. Program members work intra- and inter-Programmatically to apply advances in science to population health and cutting-edge data analytics, address the cancer burdens and risk factors in our catchment area, and train the next generation of cancer control researchers.

Monthly Abramson Cancer Center Population Science Research Seminars are sponsored by:

 

UPenn PRC helps to accelerate implementation of evidence-based cancer prevention and control

Accelerate progress

The Evidence Academy model was developed to bring together researchers, health professionals, advocates, and policy makers to accelerate the process of integrating research findings into practice.

Bringing in the experts

The University of Pennsylvania Collaborating Center of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) assembled local and national experts in three different Evidence Academies (EAs) on the UPenn campus from 2015 to 2018.

The EAs were used to present research and discuss barriers and solutions to topics that affect the health of our communities. As a result, an article describing three evidence academies and the lessons learned was just published in the journal Preventive Medicine.

The Topics

The focus of the Evidence Academies were:
Prostate cancer (2015)
Food access, diet and obesity (2017)
Tobacco control science (2018)

The paper on these EAs is a part of a special supplemental issue, produced by the CPCRN which is funded by the CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and the National Cancer Institute.

The goal of the network is to reduce the impact of cancers that affects all communities, by connecting public health practitioners, policymakers, and others to the research and strategies found to be most effective. Twelve articles come from centers across the United States linked by a common cause, “reducing cancer burden in diverse populations.”

The cancer prevention and control research network: Accelerating the implementation of evidence-based cancer prevention and control interventions (Guest Editor Commentary). Leeman J, Glanz K, Hannon P, Shannon J.

An application of the Science Impact Framework to the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network from 2014-2018. Ko LK, Jang SH, Friedman DB, Glanz K, Leeman J, Hannon PA, Shannon J, Cole A, Williams R, Vu T.

*This issue is open access

Karen Glanz named Associate Director and Program Leader at the Abramson Cancer Center

Monday, November 26, 2018, Abramson Cancer Center director, Robert Vonderheide and deputy director, Katherine Nathanson announced the appointment of Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH as Associate Director for Community Engaged Research and Leader for the Cancer Control Program.

“Dr. Glanz is the George A. Weiss University Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, as one of Penn’s distinguished Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professors. Dr. Glanz is director of the federally funded UPenn Prevention Research Center. Dr. Glanz is a behavioral scientist with public health expertise. Her basic and translational research in community and healthcare settings focuses on obesity, nutrition, and the built environment; reduction of health disparities; and novel health communication technologies. She has made important and sustained contributions to cancer prevention and control.  With more than 480 publications and designation as a Most Highly-Cited Author over the past 20 years (top 0.5% of authors in the field), Dr. Glanz’s scholarship has been consistently interdisciplinary and highly influential in advancing the science of understanding, predicting, and changing health-related behavior. Dr. Glanz is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, served on the US Task Force on Community Preventive Services for 10 years, and is a current member of the NHLBI Advisory Council.  Dr. Glanz has been a valued member of the Cancer Control Program at the ACC since 2009.”

The Cancer Control Program is a transdisciplinary Program composed of members who focus on the identification of the genetic, behavioral, and health care determinants of cancer susceptibility and the development and implementation of strategies to lower risk and improve outcomes.

Dr. Glanz will step into the role previously held by Marilyn Schapira, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator on the UPenn PRC Economic Impact of Clinical Trials for Childhood Cancer Project. Dr. Schapira will continue to work with the Cancer Control Program at Abramson Cancer Center and teach medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Colon Cancer Prevention Month

In honor of Colon Cancer Awareness Month, we’ve assembled some highlights of the work being done by researchers at the UPenn PRC towards colorectal cancer prevention. We’re helping local health clinics increase colorectal screening rates by addressing barriers to screening, such as financial help for uninsured patients or training healthcare workers to follow-up with patients. #ColorectalCancer
 
  • We work with the local American Cancer Society and the Health Federation of Philadelphia (HFP), to help Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) adopt quality programs that help to increase colorectal cancer screening rates. In addition to increased rates, these programs range from financial help for uninsured clients to changing which personnel are responsible for following up with patients who need to be screened.
  • We’re contributing to an ongoing study with the Cancer Prevention & Control Research Network (CPCRN) FQHC work group, where we administered a survey and conducted interviews about implementation of evidence based interventions to increase CRC screening in FQHCs.
  • Our Community Scholars In-Residence Program matches doctoral candidates, medical students, and postdocs with community programs. They research cancer prevention and control at the community level. This project is supported by CPCRN and the Community Engagement and Research Core (CEAR Core).

Investigator Spotlight

Chyke Doubeni, MD, FRCS, MPH

Dr. Chyke Doubeni examined the barriers to screenings which provide early identification and prevention of colorectal cancer for low-income patients.

Featured Publications:

Singal AG, Corley DA, Kamineni A, Garcia M, Zheng Y, Doria-Rose PV, Quinn VP, Jensen CD, Chubak J, Tiro J, Doubeni CA, Ghai NR, Skinner CS, Wernli K, Halm EA. Patterns and predictors or repeat fecal immunochemical and occult blood test screening in four large health care systems in the United States American Journal of Gastroenterology, Feb. 2018

In a study of over 300,000 patients, Dr. Doubeni and his co-authors found factors in hospitals that are associated with whether patients complete colorectal cancer screenings in the recommended time frame. Their results suggest that screening rates increase if the hospital/clinic focuses their attention and follow-up with patients.

Peterse EFP, Meester RGS, Gini A, Doubeni CA, Anderson DS, Berger FG, Zauber AG, Lansdorp-Vogelaar I.Value Of Waiving Coinsurance For Colorectal Cancer Screening In Medicare Beneficiaries, Health Affairs (Project Hope), Dec. 2017

Dr. Doubeni and his colleagues have also modeled the potential effects of waiving coinsurance payments for Medicare patients who have colorectal cancer screening. They find that even if waiving the coinsurance raises the number of people screened by less than one percent, these measures would strike a good balance between cost and health benefits impacts.