Community Outreach and Engagement

Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) has been an integral component of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center (DLDCCC) since its inception. Serving Houston, Texas and its surrounding areas, the DLDCCC catchment area (CA) encompasses one of the largest and most dynamic cities in the U.S. Notably, our CA has double the percentage of Hispanics, is younger than average, and has higher rates of poverty and the highest rate of uninsured patients in the nation. The DLDCCC is uniquely positioned to treat all Houstonians with cancer through its clinical services at Ben Taub General Hospital, the Harris County’s safety net hospital; Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, which sees adult patients; Texas Children’s Hospital, which treats 90% of children with cancer in our catchment area; and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Administration Medical Center, which serves veterans. The DLDCCC COE leadership and infrastructure was strategically restructured to reflect the multicultural, multilingual nature of our CA. In 2023, Dr. Pavan Reddy appointed Dr. Rayne Rouce as Associate Director of COE to solidify the role of this component as a conduit for all scientific, clinical and educational interactions between the Cancer Center and community. Under her leadership, COE has ensured that all communities within the CA, across the age spectrum, benefit from innovative cancer outreach, education, screening, and primary prevention. The office ensures bidirectional community engagement in defining and executing research priorities, disseminating and implementing evidence-based interventions, and developing policy. To support these critical activities, COE has the following specific aims: (1) To monitor the cancer burden and risk factors in the DLDCCC CA; (2) To engage DLDCCC CA populations in outreach aimed at reducing cancer burden; (3) To enhance community-catalyzed research and community involvement in DLDCCC research priorities, protocol design, and implementation; and (4) To disseminate and promote the integration of evidence-based interventions and findings from research programs within the DLDCCC, locally, nationally, and globally through outreach, collaboration, and policy. Through our new multidisciplinary collaborations, including DLDCCC and community partners, COE aims to catalyze conduct of new pragmatic trials in CA priority cancers, including pursuing funding for dissemination and implementation research to evaluate the real-world implementation of our evidence-based interventions.