The American Cancer Society (ACS) believes that everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer (Alcaraz et al, 2020).
Societal conditions where people are born, grow up, live, worship, and age, have a profound effect on their health status and their ability to access cancer care and to carry out care recommendations (Alfano et al, 2020; Braveman, 2017).
This funding is intended to support the formation of Cancer Health Equity Research Centers (CHERCs) designed to target cancer health disparities that are unique to a local or regional community.
We anticipate this funding will stimulate novel collaborations and approaches to mitigate societal risk factors and contribute to our goals for achieving health equity and reducing cancer mortality.
Due to the complexities associated with social determinants of health and cancer, multi-level and multi-sector research that addresses the interactions of factors responsible for cancer inequalities within communities is required. This RFA is a call for solution-based research addressing cancer health disparities that will contribute to achieving health equity. Thirty percent (30%) of the planned research participants must be racial and ethnic minorities or live in rural or medically underserved areas. Teams may propose collaborations with consortia of community hospitals and/or oncology practices, public hospitals, or other academic institutions or medical centers to accrue study participants. Collectively, the CHERC funds will support innovative research centered on a common goal of achieving sustainable health equity in your community.
LOI Due Date: May 1, 2023
All investigators must be at an accredited college, university, or medical school, within the United States (in accordance with ACS grant policies). Applicants from underrepresented groups and from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are encouraged to apply. MSIs are institution of higher learning that serve minority populations, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Universities (TCUs), and Asian-American-and-Pacific-Islander-Serving Institutions (AAPISIs), and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH). For more information see U.S.C. Title 20.
We strongly encourage applications from diverse teams and study participants. All applications should include individuals from underrepresented groups as members of their research team. Applicants who are not from MSIs are encouraged to collaborate with MSIs or health systems providing care to minority or underserved populations within their community to expand the impact and reach of their Center.
The Principal Investigator (PI):
