Abstract: Community Outreach and Engagement UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (HCC) works throughout western Pennsylvania to assess the cancer burden and address, through community engagement and high-quality research, the cancer incidence and mortality in its catchment area (CA). The HCC CA consists of 25 rural and 4 urban counties located in Appalachia, with the majority of minority populations residing within the urban counties. The counties collectively are largely low income with higher than U.S. rates for age-adjusted cancer incidence (breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, thyroid) and mortality (lung, breast, and prostate), with racial disparity in Allegheny County for lung, breast, and colo-rectal cancer mortality. CA risk behaviors include lower than national rates of cancer screening, poor uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and high rates of obesity and tobacco usage. Under the leadership of Drs. Robertson (Community Engagement and Outreach) and Rosenzweig (Catchment Area Research), the HCC’s Committee for Health Equity and Community Outreach & Engagement (CHECOE) uses several data sources and strategies to define cancer incidence, mortality, screening behaviors, burdens, and risks. Using these data, CHECOE, in close collaboration with the HCC research programs and the Community Advisory Board and partners, directs the development and implementation of HCC CA initiatives and evaluation of these efforts toward cancer burden reduction. These initiatives include a research portfolio with contributions from each HCC program directed at identified CA burdens, and provision of evidence-based community engagement to meet identified education, screening and support needs of CA populations. These efforts include the successful navigation of patients from underserved areas to cancer screening and, if necessary, through treatment. There is statewide collaboration for the increased uptake of HPV vaccine. HCC’s program of CA research includes several initiatives focused on developing new agents directed at specific CA high incidence and mortality malignancies; tobacco cessation; and better understanding and mitigation of racial disparity in cancer treatment. Research also includes the long-standing Pittsburgh Lung Screening Study (PLuSS), now used for developing risk biomarkers; identification of regionally unique cancer threats and resilience; and several initiatives to ensure equitable cancer care, including novel delivery systems in rural areas and improving minority recruitment to clinical trials. Future plans include the development of infrastructure to better describe diverse populations in the community and across the cancer trajectory, an ongoing CA health equity regional meeting, development of CA academic rigor, and focused initiatives to increase recruitment of diverse populations into clinical trials.