Science to Populations to People, Latino Cancer Conundrum
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Grant Title: From Science to Populations to People, The Latino Cancer Conundrum Non-technical overview of the event and relevance to breast cancer: The theme of the Sixth Biennial National Latino Cancer Summit is From Science to Populations to People: The Latino Cancer Conundrum. This reflects that the impact of cancer on a heterogeneous Latino population is still a puzzle. Not only is Latino health under-researched, but the effect that the different lifestyles, environments and genetic variations have on cancer incidence, progression and outcomes are poorly understood. Cancer causes more than one in 5 deaths among the 57 million Latinos in the U.S. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Latinas and the leading cause of death. Latinas tend to be diagnosed later, have poorer survival, and receive poorer quality care throughout the cancer care continuum than non-Latina White women. This raises the question: What do we have to do to bring the growing knowledge on cancer biology, risk factors, prevention and treatments at the individual and population levels into the real world? We’ll investigate genetic, environmental and lifestyle contributions to cancer health disparities, and consider gaps in policy that exacerbate access to information, screening, early intervention and better health outcomes for breast and other cancers. Description of event structure and intended audience: Our aims are to address disparities, gaps along the cancer continuum in research, access, treatment and survivorship, as well as policies or lack thereof that impact the burden of cancer. We will use mixed methods for this two-day event to both spotlight expert presentations and create opportunities for interactive community-scientific engagement. We will feature two keynotes, two plenaries, three workshops and three Learning Labs (providing for more interactive learning on specific topics and practices in smaller groups). Two of the three labs will focus on breast cancer issues. Our team will also launch the Science Cafe´ during a lunch session to advance discussion and problem solving on identified issues, that can impede or accelerate community engagement, explore policy concerns and provide guidelines for next steps. Science Cafe´s feature an engaging conversation with a scientist about a particular topic. Our intended audience of 225 to 250 participants includes patients and community members, advocacy agencies, young investigators, health care providers, scientists and researchers. Innovative elements of the event and potential to generate new ideas/facilitate collaboration: The Summit is unique in that it is one of its kind in the country, bringing together Latino patients, community members, and advocacy agencies to network, learn from, teach and collaborate with academic researchers. Since its advent in 2008, the bi-lingual Summit has created an opportunity for monolingual, Spanish speakers who work as community health educators to participate in both learning and presenting. We provide dedicated Spanish language sessions. This year we’ll introduce three learning labs with interactive learning formats - one is bilingual and gives breast cancer lay navigators an opportunity to compare best practices, core competencies and qualities needed for successful navigation . Another Spanish language lab will test a hereditary breast cancer toolkit funded by a 2017 CBCRP- CRC grant. The materials will be reviewed for design, literacy levels and ease of understanding of concepts. The toolkit includes a training curriculum for promotores as well as educational materials for Latinas to learn to identify breast cancer risk. Results will lead to toolkit improvements and a statewide pilot program for further testing among promotores and Latino cancer serving agencies. Advocacy involvement: The National Latino Cancer Summit itself is convened by a Bay Area advocacy group. Latinas Contra Cancer (LCC) targets breast and other cancer issues in the under-served, Spanish speaking Latino community has held 5 prior biennial Summits. As an advocacy organization, it represents the voices of the Latino community on cancer related issues and continually engages a cross sector of the community to address issues of concern. Planning for and deployment of the Summit program led by former LCC CEO Ysabel Duron who created the Summit, includes breast cancer survivors, promotores (aka community health educators), students, providers and other health care experts along with academic research partners).