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Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

New NCI Grant to Advance Cancer Control Equity Research

Melissa Simon
Melissa Simon, MD, MPHBetina Yanez
Betina Yanez, PhD

A new five-year grant to the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, aims to address cancer disparities and structural inequities through community-engaged research capacity building and outreach.

The $10 million grant will support the creation of a center focused on “Advancing Cancer Control Equity Research Through Transformative Solutions in Patient Navigation (ACCERT PN),” led by Principal Investigators Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, the George H. Gardner, MD, Professor of Clinical Gynecology and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and associate director of community outreach and engagement at Lurie Cancer Center; and Betina Yanez, PhD, associate professor of Medical Social Sciences and co-leader of Lurie Cancer Center’s Cancer Control and Survivorship Program. Funded by a new NCI initiative, “Advancing Cancer Control Equity Research through Transformative Solutions (ACCERT),” Northwestern’s ACCERT PN Center is one of four centers in the country established to target the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on cancer health care and outcomes.

“After studying and implementing patient navigation interventions for almost two decades, this is a dream-come-true opportunity to take patient navigation to the next level,” said Simon. ”Marginalized communities are often left behind with AI and other advanced technologies. This grant connects AI tools with the people to help ensure technological advances benefit everyone.”

One of the nation’s most diverse yet segregated cities, Chicago is characterized by egregious cancer health inequities. The ACCERT PN Center will develop meaningful community-engaged interventions and methodologies for assessing processes and outcomes, while fostering collaboration between researchers and community partners. The Center’s focus will be on innovative, AI-enhanced patient navigation approaches and implementation science to tackle SDOH – including structural racism and discrimination, language accessibility, and health literacy – with the goal of closing the gaps in Chicago’s Black, Latinx and low-income Chinese communities. “Partnering with community organizations to develop and implement AI-enhanced patient navigation to target social determinants of health represents the next frontier in advancing cancer health equity,” said Yanez.

The ACCERT PN Center will launch a five-year signature multilevel research project focused on “Advancing Innovations in Patient Navigation and Implementation Science to Address Structural Racism and Social Determinants of Health,” as well as two thematically-linked community-responsive projects. The grant will also support an Administrative Core and a Research Methods, Measures, and Data Management Core, aimed at reinforcing the Center’s activities. These projects and cores are led by Lurie Cancer Center members Rinad Beidas, PhD, the chair and Ralph Seal Paffenbarger Professor of Medical Social Sciences, and Marquita Lewis-Thames, PhD, assistant professor of Medical Social Sciences. Community partners are co-leaders in all ACCERT PN Center projects.

Our Community Partners

The following community partners will be an integral part of the ACCERT PN Center’s collaborative efforts to promote health equity: