Abstract 4974: Leveraging partnerships through a Florida Innovation Grant: A collaborative approach by the Care2 Health Equity Center
Authors: Nazleen Del Rio, Brooke Hensel, Ileana Guzman, Sandra Suther, Fern J. Webb, Paul Okunieff, Diana Wilkie
Journal: Cancer Research (2025)

The Florida-California CaRE2 Health Equity Center advances its mission to eliminate cancer health disparities through a multifaceted approach that promotes innovation in cancer research. Funded by a Florida Department of Health Innovation Award to UF, the Florida-based CaRE2 research team is directly collaborating to implement this innovative project. One of the first activities was to develop materials designed to increase awareness of the RadTox test - a test using small amounts of blood to assess whether one’s tumor is responding to the current cancer treatment. Having educational materials in Spanish is essential for enabling Spanish-speaking individuals to consider participating in cancer-related research. Recognizing the importance of language access, CaRE2 bi-lingual team members translated materials into Spanish with CaRE2 tri-institutional investigators indirectly involved back-translating information to ensure accurate information transfer. The other key collaborative effort is information sharing to reach a broader community beyond clinical populations in collaboration with the industry partner, DiaCarta. The CaRE2 Health Equity Center’s is leveraging several resources to inform the community about this project, including our community contact registry, community events direct outreach, and collegial connections. With more than 1,408 adults enrolled from CaRE2’s communities, the contact registry enhances the capacity to inform more people about this test and involvement opportunities. Information also is shared at English and Spanish-speaking community events held in CaRE2’s immediate catchment areas. Additionally, CaRE2 investigators continue to leverage institutional, community, and industry partnerships, resulting in a network filled with varying perspectives and expertise partnering on this innovative project. Since October 2024, 1,116 CaRE2 contact registry members who are Florida residents and 20 people attending three community events received CaRE2 and IRB approved materials about this new test. So far 1,200 individuals have responded to seek and give additional information from the study REDCap site. CaRE2 investigators also partner to assist with sharing this information through mass media in local and statewide outlets, leading to additional opportunities to collaborate on this innovative research study. CaRE2 continues to leverage our capacity by involving our tri-institutional team and co-investigators not directly involved with this project to review materials for population-relevance and fidelity and suggest additional strategies to inform the broader population about this novel test. Given our continued success, CaRE2 recommends using multifaceted approaches to address cancer health disparities and create community-centered solutions that leverage existing human capacity and resources. Citation Format: Nazleen Del Rio, Brooke Hensel, Ileana Guzman, Sandra Suther, Fern J. Webb, Paul Okunieff, Diana Wilkie. Leveraging partnerships through a Florida Innovation Grant: A collaborative approach by the Care2 Health Equity Center [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 4974.