Abstract A041: University of California Moores Cancer Center CancerDAT: Development of an online tool to reduce cancer disparities by engaging and linking local organizations and researchers
Authors: McDaniels-Davidson Corinne R. , Nodora Jesse , Gupta Samir , Patel Sandip P. , Penn Tanya , Martinez Maria E. 
Published: August 2020

The purpose of Moores Cancer Center (MCC) CancerDAT is to reduce cancer disparities through the development of an online tool that will facilitate research partnerships, build the capacity of community-based organizations, and encourage community engagement. CancerDAT is a part of the MCC Community Outreach and Engagement Initiative (COE), which aims to decrease the burden of cancer in San Diego County, the MCC catchment area. San Diego is geographically and demographically unique, bordering the Pacific Ocean and Mexico. Across and within neighborhoods, the population varies greatly in socioeconomic status, acculturation, and languages spoken. In order to effectively recruit from, collaborate with, and intervene in communities, cancer researchers and practitioners must understand these unique sociodemographic characteristics and community needs. To achieve this kind of understanding, researchers need access to local data and local organizations and leaders, as well as information about existing efforts to address cancer disparities in a given community. Many organizations in San Diego are devoted to reducing cancer disparities; their efforts, however, are hampered by an inability to fully engage in research and implement evidence-based practices. Local community needs assessments have identified barriers to organizational participation in these activities, including an inability to access relevant and current local data, a lack of knowledge about adopting and adapting interventions for their communities, and a lack of connection to local academics open to collaborative research. The MCC COE, in partnership with their Community Advisory Board, will address these needs by: 1) assessing the catchment area cancer burden across neighborhoods; 2) facilitating transdisciplinary basic, translational, and clinical research; and 3) disseminating evidence-based practices and resources for cancer prevention, screening, and treatment. To facilitate this, the MCC COE collaborated with the UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute and consortium partner San Diego State University to develop CancerDAT (moores.healthdat.org). This tool will be used by academics and community partners to identify and address cancer disparities across communities. For example, breast cancer mortality rates vary greatly in different San Diego communities: the age-adjusted death rate in the Del Mar region is 6.06/100,000 compared with 49.67/100,000 in the Jamul region. These disparities can be easily visualized and identified by CancerDAT users. CancerDAT is a free, user-friendly, online platform that provides: 1) mapping of neighborhood-level cancer outcomes, demographics, behaviors, and social determinants of health; 2) descriptions of best practices to address cancer disparities; 3) neighborhood programs and resources that address disparities; 4) links to community-engaged academics interested in collaborating; and 5) links to existing relevant local collaboratives.

Citation Format: Corinne R. McDaniels-Davidson, Jesse Nodora, Samir Gupta, Sandip P. Patel, Tanya Penn, Maria E. Martinez. University of California Moores Cancer Center CancerDAT: Development of an online tool to reduce cancer disparities by engaging and linking local organizations and researchers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr A041.