Community Outreach and Engagement

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Connecticut residents are diagnosed with approximately 21,622 cases of cancer each year. Yale Cancer Center (YCC) is the state’s only comprehensive cancer center and provides high quality cancer care, clinical trial access, and cancer knowledge and tools for prevention and early detection to all 3.6 million CT residents within a 60-minute drive. State cancer incidence rates are higher than national incidence rates and overall cancer burden is shaped by many factors. YCC priority areas, influenced by catchment area data and concerns, were selected to have the most impact on statewide cancer burden. The priority areas include breast, liver, lung, and prostate cancers as well as cross-cutting themes of brain metastases, early onset cancers, drug resistance, obesity and metabolism, and tobacco use. COE has also prioritized four micro-catchment populations for outreach based on risk factor data, and partners (established and emerging) capable of accelerating reach throughout the catchment area. YCC’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) component uses relationships and data-driven approaches to facilitate and advance catchment area-responsive research across the cancer care continuum. The YCC COE vision is to deploy community outreach and engagement to ameliorate cancer burden within and beyond YCC catchment area communities and to improve health. YCC COE advances this vision through four aims focused on: 1) catchment area-driven discovery, 2) collaborations with YCC members to enrich research practice and training relevant to catchment area populations, 3) elevating community and patient voices within research and engaging in conversations that influence care, and 4) disseminating scientific information and evidence-based practices to community organizations and catchment area residents. COE aims are realized through four innovative signature programs developed through the infrastructure and procedures established by COE. The four signature programs are: 1) Community Research Catalyst Program, 2) COE Liaisons Program, 3) Community Research Fellows (CRF), and 4) Community Champion Partnerships (CCP). Signature programs have been organized within broader in-reach and outreach strategies to facilitate alignment of catchment area needs and YCC research priorities. The signature programs provide a focal activity within each COE aim to facilitate catchment area-relevant research and bidirectional communications about catchment area cancer burden and the potential benefits of YCC science to help address cancers in Connecticut.