Hunter College and Temple University-Fox Chase Cancer Center have received a five-year, $13.3 million competitive grant renewal from the National Cancer Institute to address cancer health disparities.
The initial five-year, $13.5 million grant, which was awarded in 2018, helped underwrite the creation of the Temple University/Fox Chase Cancer Center and Hunter College Regional Comprehensive Cancer Health Disparities Partnership. It helped fund studies focusing on liver, lung, and colon cancers that have led to a better understanding of more personalized treatment strategies for underserved populations.
The grant renewal will further support the partnership’s groundbreaking work in reducing cancer health disparities that adversely affect African American, Asian-Pacific American, and Hispanic American communities across the Philadelphia and New York City metropolitan areas, including New Jersey.
“We are thrilled to have been awarded an additional five years of funding to keep this important partnership thriving,” said Hunter Psychology Professor Joel Erblich, contact principal investigator on the grant.
The co-principal investigator, Hunter Psychology Professor Jennifer Ford, said that “by training and educating the next generation of cancer researchers and scientists, we will have the ability to more broadly impact the field in a sustainable and meaningful way.”
The Temple-Hunter partnership is also known as the Synergistic Partnership in Enhancing Equity in Cancer Health. Since 2018, SPEECH has launched 108 cross-institutional research projects, established collaborations with 51 community- and faith-based organizations, and educated 1,340 community members on liver-, colon-, and lung-cancer prevention.
SPEECH includes more than 80 multidisciplinary investigators across Hunter College and TUFCCC. It also includes 207 trainees from diverse backgrounds who are mentored by TUFCCC and Hunter faculty.
The two institutions will focus further on multidisciplinary cancer research; diversifying the research and medical pipeline by training and mentoring minority junior faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers; and educating and engaging the community. Community outreach focuses on intervention, early detection, and access to treatment.
