NCCU-LCCC Partnership in Cancer Research

The North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) propose to continue their effective and mutually beneficial partnership in cancer research that focuses on African-American health disparities. During the past 13 years and with funding from the NCI, the two institutions have firmly established a partnership by building on complementary institutional strengths, conducting molecular cancer research, population-based research and training of junior faculty and students.

This Comprehensive Partnership to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE) application builds upon the foundation already established among the two institutions through the previous U54 funding mechanism to meet the challenge of disparities in cancer incidence and mortality in North Carolina and the US through cancer research, education and community outreach. Our overall goals are to (1) strengthen cancer research capacity at NCCU by providing NCCU scientists mentorship and collaborative opportunities to enable them to compete for traditional forms of research support; (2) enrich the capacity of NCCU and LCCC to further explore mechanisms underlying the disproportionate incidence of cancer mortality and morbidity between African Americans and Caucasian Americans, using both molecular and population-based approaches; (3) increase the number of NCCU scientists focused on cancer research as well as the education of minority undergraduate and graduate students in cancer research; (4) increase the faculty at the UNC LCCC focused on minority disparities research; and (5) create long-term collaborations between basic, public health, and translational scientists from NCCU and UNC LCCC.

The strengths of each institution are uniquely positioned to overcome the weaknesses found in the other to achieve these priorities. Specific collaborative components of the proposal include two full projects and one pilot project in community outreach, one full and one pilot project in basic cancer research, and five cores: an Administrative Core, a Planning and Evaluation Core, an Outreach Core, a Research Education Core, and a Histopathology shared resource. The extensive expertise and resources of LCCC in cancer research and cancer education and the demonstrated interest in minority health disparities and the experience of NCCU in reaching minority populations, faculty and students are complementary institutional strengths that will help the Partnership build the infrastructure necessary for a lasting collaborative research and community outreach effort.