Community Outreach & Engagement

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT (COE) – PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The overarching goal of UVA Cancer Center (UVACC) Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) is to reduce the burden of cancer across the cancer continuum. COE follows a systematic process of strategic planning and evaluation to identify needs in the catchment area and, with UVACC leadership, prioritize programs and engagement strategies to address these needs through outreach and research. COE is led by Wendy Cohn, PhD, Associate Director for COE and is supported by the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (OCOE) and the Community Advisory Council (CAC). A deep understanding of the catchment area through needs assessments and collaborations with a variety of communities, organizations, and health systems provide a strong foundation. COE provides targeted, culturally-adapted, evidence-informed cancer prevention and control strategies and facilitates research among investigators from all of the research Programs in the UVACC. COE proposes to improve health across the cancer control continuum in the catchment area and beyond by 1) identifying and describing the cancer burden and cancer risk in the catchment area, 2) fostering collaborative, bi-directional research to address catchment area needs, and 3) implementing and disseminating evidence-based interventions to the catchment and broader population.