By bringing together faith leaders and UF Health Cancer Center researchers to promote cancer prevention, treatment and survivorship, a UF Health Cancer Center community research partnership is reducing the burden of cancer.
On Tuesday, the CDRC gathered at Springhill Church to showcase the impact of ongoing community-engaged research. Participants shared how their involvement in the CDRC and events like its Power Over Cancer Gatherings benefited their health. The CDRC has provided a forum for questions and emotional support, connected community members to others dealing with similar challenges and helped reduce misconceptions about clinical trials.
The CDRC, led by UF Health Cancer Center member Carolyn Tucker, Ph.D., consists of 10 Black churches and their pastors, community and faculty researchers, cancer survivors, undergraduate students and research support staff.
“Dr. Tucker has brought together the community, the academy, and health care to address an issue that every living soul in this room has been affected by,” said Adrian Taylor, pastor of Springhill Church and a pastor scientist with the CDRC. “There is not one person in this room who has not had a loved one, friend or neighbor affected by cancer. We are coming together to address something that impacts us all.”
Tucker, the UF Florida Blue Endowed Chair in Health Disparities Research, presented findings from the collaborative’s ongoing studies. One has enrolled 400 Black East Gainesville residents who are cancer survivors or at risk for cancer. The study is assessing their knowledge of cancer and screening, quality of life, health behaviors and outcomes, and views on health care and research.
She also shared findings on the high rates of obesity in East Gainesville. Obesity is a major risk factor for 13 cancers and many chronic conditions.
Another study is working to identify the emotional support that Black women who are breast cancer survivors need from their doctors, spouses and family members.
“The work the CRDC is doing allows us to partner with community members and patients to help determine the questions to ask that really matter for our research and to design the care algorithms that honor the whole person by focusing on the questions that really matter,” said Jennifer Hunt, M.D., interim dean of the UF College of Medicine.
The CDRC also honored the Cancer Center’s leadership team for their unwavering support of research initiatives aimed at providing compassionate care for all patients. Jonathan Licht, M.D., the center’s director, Thomas George, M.D., FACP, FASCO, the center’s deputy director, and Dejana Braithwaite, Ph.D., associate director for population sciences, received awards.
