Abstract Cancer disparities continue to impact the tribal nations within Oklahoma disproportionately. The proposed Cherokee Nation/Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Stephenson Cancer Center (SCC) Collaborative has four specific aims to achieve its overall mission of developing durable capacity in the context of an American Indian tribal nation for research on cancer disparities: 1. to strengthen administrative infrastructure, including a joint Internal Advisory Committee, capable of integrating research, research education and outreach efforts among the Cherokee Nation, OSU and the SCC; 2. to conduct innovative pilot research in tobacco use and cancer risk capable of seeding large-scale research projects performed in the Cherokee Nation setting; 3. to train the next generation of cancer researchers prepared to engage meaningfully with the Cherokee Nation and other tribal nations in the context of this research, focusing on early-stage investigators (ESIs), graduate, professional, and undergraduate students; and 4. to evaluate our work in order to optimize the impact of pilot research projects and cancer research education and outreach activities, and guide continued expansion of Collaborative activities to address cancer disparities. Our excitement about the Collaborative centers on the opportunity to expand tribal capacity for cancer disparities research through a coordinated program of pilot research directly involving ESIs and students in scholarly work to address cancer disparities, particularly those resulting from tobacco, and through specific cancer research curriculum development and outreach activities. The addition of OSU, which has remarkable assets in the education and training of American Indian students and ESIs, including a new medical school created in partnership with the Cherokee Nation, provides a unique environment in which a tribe, a university serving large numbers of AI students, and a research-intensive cancer center will work collectively to reduce the unacceptable burden of cancer that continues to affect far too many AI people.

P20CA253258

2020-09-15

2024-08-31