The Mays Cancer Center (MCC) has developed an Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), overseen by MCC Associate Director (AD) of COE Amelie Ramirez, Dr.Ph.H., and informed by input from our Community Advisory Board (CAB) and MCC members. The COE engages communities of our catchment area to ensure MCC programs’ practices, education, and research help reduce cancer burden in the catchment area. The COE supports the MCC’s comprehensive approach to reducing cancer burden while translating the most impactful scientific evidence across the cancer care continuum. Our catchment area encompasses a 38-county region in South Texas from the Texas-Mexico border to the San Antonio metropolitan area. For many catchment area residents, the MCC is the only place to receive cancer care, illustrated by the fact that while 77.3% of MCC patients reside in Bexar County (local to San Antonio), those from the 38-county catchment area comprised 94.5% of all MCC cancer cases from 2015-2018. Forty percent of residents in this region are under 25 years old. Less than 75% of the population has a high school diploma, and 23.6% live below the poverty level. The most common cancers in the catchment area are lung, colorectal, prostate, breast, and cervical cancer. Notably, incidence of gastric and liver cancers is significantly higher compared to the state and nation. We also see higher rates of modifiable cancer-related risk factors, namely obesity and tobacco smoking; 33% of catchment area adults are obese and 17% are current smokers. Further, adults in our catchment area underutilize health screenings such as mammograms and colorectal cancer tests. The MCC COE helps inform MCC practices, education, and research by identifying the cancer burden in our catchment area and prioritizing modifiable risk factors. To fulfill the COE’s mission, we propose three Specific Aims: 1)To monitor and evaluate the catchment area cancer burden and related health disparities through ongoing surveillance of cancer incidence, mortality, and risk factors; 2)To meaningfully engage the community in planning, implementing, and disseminating MCC and NCI-supported research; and 3)To help guide MCC’s ongoing and future research to continue addressing cancer burden through research, education, and health policy change.