South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network
The South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network-II is one of 23 Community Networks Program Centers funded by the US National Cancer
Institute. Our goal is to reduce cancer disparities through community-based participatory
cancer education, research and training. Each of the individual Centers around the
country targets disparate populations that are negatively affected by cancer and cancer-related
diseases. Here in South Carolina, we focus on the African-American population, a group
with a much higher-than-average cancer incidence in our region and an extraordinarily
high mortality rate given the incidence. Our overarching goal for the SC Cancer Disparities
Community Network-II is to make substantial contributions in our understanding of
the underlying causes of cancer-related health disparities, discover and develop effective
interventions that lower incidence, improve survival and reduce suffering and deliver
these innovations to high-risk populations.
The Cores
We accomplish the goals of the SC Cancer Disparities Community Network-II through
four core services: the Training and Career Development Core, the Research Core, the
Community Outreach Core and the Administrative Core.
Training and Career Development Core
The mission of the Training and Career Development Core is to improve the health of
South Carolina’s communities by eliminating health disparities through community-based
participatory research, multidisciplinary and culturally sensitive research and sustainable
education and training programs. Our programs and projects include faculty mentoring
programs, the training and health disparities seminar series and the interdisciplinary
undergraduate minor in health disparities research and action.
Research Core
The Research Core is committed to conducting research with our community partners
that is culturally competent and will ultimately lead to the identification of the
causes of cancer-related health disparities. The research team develops programs that
help decrease disparities and improve health outcomes for African Americans in South
Carolina and beyond. The Research Core supports two ongoing programs: the SISTAS (Sistas
Inspiring Sistas Through Activity and Support) Intervention, which is a healthy eating
and exercise project among African-American women; and the Pilot Project, which focuses
on determining African-American men’s and women’s knowledge about prostate cancer
screening and knowledge and attitudes about prostate cancer research.
Community Outreach Core
The Community Outreach Core is a partnership of the State Baptist Young Woman’s Auxiliary
of the Woman’s Baptist Education and Missionary Convention of South Carolina, Insights
Consulting, Inc., Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. The primary
focus of the Community Outreach Core is to reduce cancer health disparities and prevent
and eliminate suffering due to cancer among African Americans in South Carolina. Our
team works together with community partners using a community-based participatory
approach, helping communities meet their needs that address factors related to cancer
and cancer health disparities. We believe that the health of many South Carolina citizens
is compromised because of the barriers associated with accessing and utilizing necessary
health care; we also believe that communities can improve how they motivate, assist
and facilitate community members’ access to health resources, health information and
health programs.
Administrative Core
The Administrative Core provides the administrative support to allow the remainder
of the cores and their leadership to function diligently. The Administrative Core
exists to advance the mission of the South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network
in addressing its overarching goal of contributing materially to discovery, development,
delivery and dissemination of innovations aimed at reducing cancer disparities.