Abstract PR010: Evaluating a bidirectional academic–community partnership with multiple racial/ethnic communities for cancer prevention initiatives and cancer health disparities research
Authors: Zhu Lin , Kim Ellen J. , Zhu Steven , Rubio-Torio Nathaly , González Evelyn , Fraser Marilyn A. , Yeh Ming-chin , Zibalese-Crawford Marsha , Ma Grace X. , Ogunwobi Olorunseun O. , Tan Yin 
Published: January 2023

Background: The Temple University Fox Chase Cancer Center and Hunter College Cancer Health Disparity Partnership (TUFCCC/HC Cancer Partnership) is a comprehensive collaborative cancer health research infrastructure in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York City (PNN) Region. Its goals are to enhance equity in cancer health through rigorous and sustainable cancer research, train the next generation of researchers, and establish community outreach programs. Establishing and strengthening a bidirectional academic-community partnership is a key component of this partnership. While such collaborative relationships have been strongly endorsed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), little has been documented demonstrating how such partnership can be created and maintained. Objectives: Building on previous established collaborative relationships with the community-based organizations (CBOs), we created and expanded a bidirectional, academic–community partnership in African American, Asian American, and Latinx communities in the PNN region to (1) assess the level of awareness of cancer prevention knowledge; (2) identify community needs and barriers to cancer prevention healthcare services; (3) jointly develop and implement community-based educational initiatives to promote cancer prevention in medically underserved communities. Methods: In this presentation, we established a comprehensive evaluation metric to assess the bidirectional partnership. The metric, its outputs, and outcomes were adapted from the Evaluation Metrics Manual published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services of NIH. We also formed a Community Advisory Board (CAB) to guide our bidirectional communication and jointly develop a community-driven cancer education agenda. Results: The CAB played a critical role in the development of the bidirectional partnership. They provided key inputs in identifying the goals and benchmarks of the educational initiative, and in facilitating the recruitment and implementation of the initiative. Our evaluation indicated that a bidirectional partnership is an interactive and non-linear process that requires constant feedback and communication. We identified several successes and challenges during our co-learning and co-implementing process. We also identified areas for improvement, specifically, establishing a more efficient channel for information and resource sharing, and greater efforts on dissemination of scientific findings to the community. Conclusions: Actively engaging CAB and CBOs in the cancer prevention educational initiatives from the onset enhanced the efficacy of the initiatives and strengthened the research training capacity of the academic institutions. We will share best practices in our bidirectional, academic–community partnership building and discuss next steps in adaptation and further development of the partnership.

Citation Format: Lin Zhu, Ellen J. Kim, Steven Zhu, Nathaly Rubio-Torio, Evelyn González, Marilyn A. Fraser, Ming-chin Yeh, Marsha Zibalese-Crawford, Grace X. Ma, Olorunseun O. Ogunwobi, Yin Tan. Evaluating a bidirectional academic–community partnership with multiple racial/ethnic communities for cancer prevention initiatives and cancer health disparities research [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 15th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2022 Sep 16-19; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PR010.