# Community Outreach and Engagement

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2022 · $484,562

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY - Community Outreach and Engagement (COE)
Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) is a longstanding priority of the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC)
and leverages decades of commitment to address the cancer burden in our catchment area. COE's mission is
to engage with the catchment area community; understand the cancer burden in the catchment area; ensure
that our Research Programs work to reduce cancer burdens; and disseminate evidence-based interventions
and policies in our catchment area and beyond. Leading our COE are two highly skilled and experienced
population scientists: Dr. Karen Glanz, Associate Director (AD) for Community-Engaged Research, and Dr.
Carmen Guerra, AD for Diversity and Outreach, who, together, bring the expertise and dedication needed to
achieve the COE mission. They led the effort to comprehensively characterize our catchment area, a
geographically-defined area of 12 contiguous counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
Delaware, with over 7 million residents, which captures the residences of 81.4% of all ACC patients seen
during the current funding period. The ACC has invested heavily to systematically understand the unique
cancer burdens, including cancer incidence and mortality rates, disparities, and cancer-related risk factors
across the catchment area. Key aspects of the cancer burden in the catchment area include: a high overall
cancer incidence; high incidence of prostate, lung, pancreas, and liver cancers, melanoma, and non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma; variable cancer incidence between Philadelphia County (lung, liver) and the other counties in the
catchment area (breast, prostate, melanoma); differential cancer incidence and mortality between Black (lung,
liver) vs. White (breast, prostate, melanoma) catchment area residents; many medically underserved residents,
particularly in Philadelphia; areas with concentrated carcinogenic environmental hazards; and high rates of
obesity, smoking, and alcohol use. COE leaders manage a bidirectional process of communication, working
with the Community Advisory Board, ACC leadership, and Program Leaders to understand catchment area
needs, in order to shape research and outreach to reduce the cancer burden. COE uses a logic model as a
conceptual framework to guide its activities, objectives, and evaluation of impact. During the current funding
period, COE developed new tools (the ACC Catchment Explorer and Catchment Report) and catalyzed
research to ensure an emphasis on data-driven priorities. Significant impacts of COE to date include achieving
high rates of minority participation in clinical trials, accelerating uptake of early cancer detection methods,
promoting high rates of HPV vaccination, and increasing tobacco use treatment. The accomplishments of COE
to date reflect the ACC's deep commitment to community engagement, catchment area-relevant research, and
the dissemination of cancer prevention information and policies that directly affect the ACC catch...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10330972
- **Project number:** 5P30CA016520-46
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Carmen E. Guerra
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $484,562
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-01-15 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10330972

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10330972, Community Outreach and Engagement (5P30CA016520-46). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10330972. Licensed CC0.

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