UAMS Teams with Philander Smith College to Increase Research, Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) Arkansas Cancer Research Center (ACRC), and College of Public Health and Philander Smith College have joined to research cancer health disparities and provide outreach in Arkansas.


  


The partnership is part of a $4.2 million grant the Cancer Control Department of the UAMS Arkansas Cancer Research Center (ACRC)received from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to continue reducing cancer health disparities in minority and poor populations.


  


The collaboration will allow students at UAMS and Philander Smith College to take courses relevant to cancer disparities and community-based participatory research. Faculty may enroll in the masters of public health program in the UAMS College of Public Health to develop relevant research skills and credentials. Also, students and faculty from the two colleges will form teams to carry out community-based cancer research.


   


“This partnership will not only allow Philander Smith College and UAMS to strengthen our relationship, but will be instrumental in reaching out to the community to address the disparity gap in early cancer detection and prevention in Arkansas,” said Ronda Henry-Tillman, M.D., director of the ACRC Cancer Control Department and associate professor of surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine.


  


Bishop Felton E. May, dean of the Harry R. Kendall Science and Health Mission Center at Philander Smith College, said, “The collaboration between UAMS and Philander Smith College shows that we can all work together toward community health and wholeness.”


   


Faculty involved with the alliance include Henry-Tillman.; Deborah O. Erwin, Ph.D., director of cancer education for the ACRC, professor of health behavior and health education in the UAMS College of Public Health and adjunct professor in the department of surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine; Paul Greene, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education in the UAMS College of  Public Health and associate director of research in cancer prevention and control for the ACRC; Billy R. Thomas, M.D., associate dean of diversity affairs in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of the UAMS Center for Diversity Affairs; Cynthia Burroughs, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at Philander Smith College; and William H. Woods, Ph.D., chairman of the Division of Natural and Physical Sciences at Philander Smith College.


  


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Arkansans are at greater risk of developing and dying from cancers of the lung, head and neck, breast and prostate than most Americans. Unhealthy behaviors and limited access to health care increase these risks. It is estimated that 14,950 new cancer cases and 6,210 cancer deaths will occur in Arkansas in 2005. Arkansas ranks 12th in the nation for cancer mortality.


   


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has more than 2,200 students and 660 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.1 billion a year.


  


UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute.