Community Outreach and Engagement

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT - ABSTRACT The purpose of the Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) component of the UH Cancer Center (UHCC) is to lead or facilitate activities across UHCC programs and with community stakeholders, and address cancers of particular priority for our catchment populations. We have selected these priority cancers through bidirectional community interactions, and targeted them for outreach and health education as well as innovative population, basic, clinical, and translational research. UHCC’s catchment area includes the Hawaiian archipelago and a vast expanse inclusive of the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI). Hawai‘i, which has a population of 1.46 million people and has no racial/ethnic majority. Approximately 20-24% of its population are of Native Hawaiian (NH) ancestry; the United States Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI) have an additional 600,000 residents and vary in economic development across different jurisdictions. These unique demographics, economic distinction, and geographic expanse inform the strategies through which UHCC strives to accomplish its mission. UHCC’s exceptional research has long considered our population’s rich cultural variety and investigates the biological, social-behavioral and environmental differences affecting cancer risk and outcomes while also defining culturally appropriate interventions to reduce the burden from cancer. We particularly emphasize Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) who experience significantly different cancer health outcomes compared to other US racial and ethnic groups. Extensive community-facing programs in cancer prevention and in clinical trials through the NCI-sponsored NCORP Community Oncology Research Program have been extremely successful in enrolling various populations to intervention trials. In those parts of the USAPI that have limited access to oncology care, efforts are focused on cancer prevention. The previous review noted that “the value added by the COE component is clear and evidenced by the unmatched need for cancer care that challenges the varied and remote population the UHCC serves.” In the past five years, the UHCC has strengthened its COE infrastructure to more robustly engage community partners, further assess its catchment area’s cancer burden, actively identify community-driven priorities, and effectively communicate community needs to its research programs. It has also developed new initiatives to disseminate innovative evidence-based interventions in the community. These efforts at education, outreach, and engagement, plus our involvement in the State of Hawai‘i Ten-Year Cancer Plan 2030, have had a substantial impact in reducing differences in health outcomes, improving clinical trial participation, and guiding beneficial cancer policy. Our COE-facilitated research has also influenced changes in lung cancer screening guidelines and diet recommendations nationally. Future plans will expand COE activities to optimize the benefits of outreach and research among all populations and ultimately have a profound impact on reducing the cancer burden in our catchment area and beyond.