# Community Outreach and Engagement

> **NIH NIH P30** · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · 2024 · $123,384

## Abstract

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT (COE): SUMMARY
The overarching goal of the Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) Community Outreach and Engagement (COE)
Office is to lead activities to reduce the burden of cancer in South Carolina (SC). HCC has supported a
centralized COE Office since 2006. HCC is located in Charleston, SC, but HCC’s outreach efforts have
reached every county of the state. The COE Office works with community stakeholders to identify cancer-
related community needs and works with the HCC leadership and research programs to develop strategies to
address these needs. As in the rest of the United States, breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer account
for most newly diagnosed cancer cases and cancer-related deaths; but there is an excess burden of these and
other cancers among Black/African American people in SC. The bidirectional communication between SC
communities and HCC, led by the COE Office, fosters the development and dissemination of evidence-based
interventions, guidelines, and community education around cancer prevention/screening, and early
detection/and treatment, leading to public health policy recommendations to improve cancer health equity.
These activities also increase access to HCC’s clinical trials while simultaneously expanding the diversity of
trial participants. The COE Office engages HCC members in all three research programs to ensure that the
catchment area cancers are reflected in, and addressed by HCC-based research. Importantly, the COE Office
facilitates community input on the spectrum of research activities. To this end, HCC has invested significantly
in establishing institutional and community-based infrastructure to facilitate community engagement. COE
efforts provide evidence-based cancer screenings via a mobile health unit to more than 25 SC counties, lay
navigation for medically underserved individuals newly diagnosed with cancer, diverse educational forums
supported by dedicated Community Health Educators, and an organizational focal point for HCC’s statewide,
cancer-focused advocacy and public policy efforts. The COE Office is supported by a Community Advisory
Committee, comprised of statewide community stakeholders. Guided by this committee’s input, the COE Office
participated in or directed more than 850 community engagements throughout the catchment area during the
past five years. The COE Office leads HCC’s Catchment Area Committee, comprised of statewide researchers
and state health department leaders, which helps to better define the catchment area needs, target the COE
Office’s interventions, and shape its future vision. During the current funding period, the COE Office has
reached more than 2 million people in SC with cancer prevention and early detection messaging, strategies,
and programs; launched a new human papillomavirus vaccination van program; supported community
engagement in five extramurally funded grants; and contributed to HCC’s overall minority trial accrual of 24%.
These str...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10847770
- **Project number:** 2P30CA138313-16
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- **Principal Investigator:** Marvella Elizabeth Ford
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $123,384
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2009-04-01 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10847770

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10847770, Community Outreach and Engagement (2P30CA138313-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10847770. Licensed CC0.

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