Project Funding Details

Abstract A serious shortage of scientists conducting AI cancer disparities research persists, which may have contributed to cancer disparities affecting tribal nations. Cherokee Nation and the Stephenson Cancer Center have partnered to build tribal cancer research capacity through a previous ?Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE)? P20 planning grant. However, it was recognized that further expansion and sustainability of Cherokee Nation's cancer research workforce requires increased access to an academic ally with a large number of AI students entering scientific fields. Oklahoma State University fulfills this need, as one of the nation's leading universities for AI students and Early Stage Investigators (ESIs). The overall mission of the proposed Cherokee Nation/Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Stephenson Cancer Center (SCC) Collaborative for Cancer Research is to develop durable research capacity within the context of an American Indian (AI) tribal nation to address cancer disparities. To achieve this goal, the four Specific Aims of the Collaborative are: 1. to strengthen administrative infrastructure, including a joint Internal Advisory Committee that ensures integration of cancer research education and outreach and pilot research activities among Cherokee Nation, OSU, and the SCC; 2. to conduct innovative pilot research in tobacco use and cancer risk capable of seeding large-scale research projects performed by AI researchers within the Cherokee Nation setting; 3. to educate the next generation of cancer researchers to engage meaningfully with Cherokee Nation in the context of this research, focusing on ESIs, graduate, professional, and undergraduate students; and 4. to evaluate activities of the partnership, including monitoring progress of pilot research projects and the cancer research education program (C-REP). This evaluation will inform future, jointly executed efforts to reduce AI cancer disparities. The Collaborative provides a crucial opportunity to solidify the foundation for tribal capacity in cancer disparities research. The addition of OSU strengthens the Collaborative by its remarkable success in the education of AI ESIs and students in scientific fields. Moreover, Cherokee Nation and OSU have broken ground at Cherokee Nation on the first tribally affiliated medical school in the US. The Collaborative therefore provides an unprecedented environment in which a tribe, a university, and a research-intensive cancer center will work synergistically to reduce the unacceptable burden of cancer that continues to affect AI people.

Narrative American Indian communities suffer disproportionately from cancer disparities. This planning grant will expand authentic tribal capacity to address cancer disparities through a coordinated program of jointly executed pilot research directly providing research experiences for early-stage investigators and students, and through specific cancer research curriculum development and outreach education activities.