POPULATION STUDIES AND DISPARITIES RESEARCH ? ABSTRACT The Population Studies and Disparities Research (PSDR) Program is committed to identifying key genetic and behavioral risk factors underlying disease onset and progression and developing and testing novel intervention strategies to reduce risk and improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes with an emphasis on reducing and/or eliminating cancer health disparities among populations contained within our catchment area. This interactive Program includes 28 members from 11 departments and 3 schools at Wayne State University and $6,936,093 in peer reviewed, cancer-related funding, of which $5,793,590 is from the NCI. The PSDR Program has two overarching scientific themes. The first theme is to investigate the distribution and determinants of cancer risk, survivorship, and outcomes in a racially and ethnically diverse population. Major scientific investigations under this theme use emerging advances in genetics to address our highly-diverse catchment area population that is approximately 25% African American, includes the largest Arab-American community in the US; developing projects target both sexual and gender minority cancer survivors and rural populations within our expanded catchment area. The work is supported by the Detroit area population-based cancer registry, a founding participant in the SEER Program, a resource that is well-leveraged for extensive population-based studies of the epidemiology of lung, breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancers in diverse populations. The second theme is to develop and test evidence-based interventions focused on patient, family member, and physician behaviors to reduce disparities in cancer prevention, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life outcomes. The main focus of this theme is modifying social and behavioral factors driving risk behaviors, screening and treatment choices, the quality of physician-patient-family member communication, symptom management, and survivorship in racially and ethnically diverse adult and pediatric populations. The work is supported by a unique, custom-designed video data capture system installed in multiple clinic sites to study the ways racial bias and poor communication give rise to unequal treatment decisions and health outcomes. Future directions include the development of multi-PI grants focused on African American cancer survivors, leveraging the Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors (Detroit ROCS) cohort study. The Detroit ROCS study is the largest single cohort conducted exclusively among African American cancer survivors with a goal of understanding the determinants of poorer outcomes in this population. eHealth technologies to enhance patient-provider communication are also being developed. PSDR Program members actively collaborate with members of the MI, MT, and TBM Programs at KCI. Of the 409 manuscripts published from December 2015 to November 2019, 43% and 25% were intra- and inter-programmatic, respectively, and 74% were multi- institutional collaborations.
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