Moffitt Cancer Center and an established network of community partners propose the formation of a regional Center for addressing the cancer burden in a tri-county area. This Center builds on the significant successes of an existing community-academic network program called the Tampa Bay Community Cancer Network, draws on enriching programmatic partnerships, and builds on our considerable experience in developing innovative education, training and research programs that recognize the importance of culture and literacy in cancer care. The Center strengthens our community-based infrastructure that is currently characterized by relevant, sincere and trustworthy partnerships that serve medically underserved individuals and families, and which cuts across all racial/ethnic groups including a growing number of foreign-born populations. Grounded in methodological approaches that use community-based participatory research (CBPR), Center aims are to: increase knowledge of, access, and use of beneficial biomedical and behavioral procedures through health promotion and outreach activities;conduct innovative evidence-based research following CBPR principles and to train qualified health disparity researchers in using CBPR approaches. The Center is comprised of an Administrative Core that provides oversight and three highly complementary Programs (Outreach, Research and Training) that work synergistically with members of the Steering Committee and Community Advisory Group. The Outreach Program, anchored by activities that engage communities around cancer prevention and control activities, centers on dissemination of credible resources, and makes linkages to the NCI National Outreach Network. The Research Program addresses several determinants (access, knowledge and health literacy) that impact health disparities, and offers solutions by conduct of an investigator initiated intervention research study for increasing uptake of colorectal cancer screening, and a pilot educational research project that extends the CNP Center's interests in biobanking. The Training Program draws on the tenets of mentoring, collaboration and networking, and innovatively puts into place didactic and immersion training opportunities involving academic and community mentors.
The goal of the Tampa Bay Community Cancer Network is to find ways to reduce the cancer burden among medically underserved populations in our community. This will be achieved by building on an established network of community partners working collaboratively with an academic partner, the Moffitt Cancer Center, through innovative outreach, research and training activities involving community members..
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