{"id":67696,"date":"2022-12-21T10:42:45","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=67696"},"modified":"2022-12-21T10:42:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:42:45","slug":"cancer-health-equity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/cancer-health-equity\/","title":{"rendered":"$4 million award funds new Center for Native American Cancer Health Equity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Improving cancer screening rates among Native Americans, increasing education about tribe-specific cancer trends and addressing disproportionately high exposure to carcinogenic environmental contaminants are just a few goals of the newly funded <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Center for Native American Cancer Health Equity (C-NACHE).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Nicolette Teufel-Shone<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">, associate director of the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) and a professor in the Department of Health Science, and several other NAU faculty and staff were recently awarded $4 million by the American Cancer Society to create C-NACHE, which will be housed in CHER.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Structural racism\u2013\u2013discrimination and marginalization experienced by Native Americans as an ethnic group\u2013is an upstream factor that underlies cancer risk. The project team believes that racism also limits evidence-based strategies to educate communities, organizations and Native Nations about ways to reduce cancer risk.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">C-NACHE researchers will collaborate with tribal communities to develop a community advisory board to address cancer prevalence trends. They also plan to create an Arizona Intertribal Cancer Prevention Forum and build and maintain an Arizona Intertribal cancer website and newsletter to inform leaders of Native Nations and other collaborators of determinants influencing cancer risks.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">C-NACHE will feature two main projects:\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0a7\" data-font=\"Wingdings\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Wingdings&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9642],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0a7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cEnvironmental Exposures from Legacy Mining as a Social Determinant of Health Linked to Kidney Cancer,\u201d led by Regents\u2019 professor <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Jani Ingram<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and principal investigator of the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP)<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0a7\" data-font=\"Wingdings\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Wingdings&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9642],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0a7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThe Navajo Cancer Workgroup: Enhancing the impact of epidemiological data for cancer prevention and control among the Navajo people,\u201d led by <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hendrick (Dirk) de<\/span><\/b> <b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Heer<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, professor in the Department of Health Sciences<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThe goal\u2013\u2013to develop intertribal synergy through the advisory board, forum and website in conjunction with the community-based research projects\u2013\u2013will contribute to understanding the contextual factors that drive cancer health inequities for Native Americans in Arizona,\u201d Teufel-Shone said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67858\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67858\" style=\"width: 531px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-67858\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-8.jpg\" alt=\"Group of people sitting around a table\" width=\"531\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-8.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-8-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-8-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-8-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67858\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The C-NACHE team from left, Carol Goldtooth, project coordinator, Native American Cancer Prevention and C-NACHE; Chesleigh Keene, assistant professor, Department of Educational Psychology; Priscilla Sanderson, professor, Department of Health Sciences; Nicolette Teufel-Shone, associate director of the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) and professor in the Department of Health Sciences and CHER; Regents&#8217; professor Jani Ingram, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Winona Reid, grant and project support coordinator, CHER; Marissa Tutt, research coordinator, CHER; Dirk de Heer, professor, Department of Health Sciences; Carmenlita Chief, research coordinator, senior, Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC); and Kelly Laurila, research scientist, SHERC. Top photo: Nicolette Teufel-Shone, associate director of the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) and professor in the Department of Health Sciences and CHER, meets with the C-NACHE team for the first time.\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Examining environmental exposures<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ingram, a member of the Navajo Nation from the Naneesht\u2019ezhi clan, is an expert on environmental exposure and uranium mining and has authored many publications on the effects of environmental contaminants, especially on humans.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In addition to NACP, she is the director of the Bridging Native American Students to Bachelor\u2019s Degree (BRIDGES) program.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cThis study will provide the Navajo Nation with information on rates of kidney disease and kidney cancer and the potential correlation to environmental exposures from contaminants of legacy mining,\u201d Ingram said. \u201cThe project will translate the findings into practical tools for health care providers to assist in early detection and diagnosis of kidney cancer and disseminate of the findings to communities to minimize exposures. We will provide a roadmap for future work linking environmental exposures and cancer.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Other researchers on the project include <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ricky Camplain<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, assistant professor with CHER and the Department of Health Sciences, a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in environmental health and a chemistry graduate student to focus on environmental chemistry work.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The team will be advised by cancer researcher Ken Batai and environmental epidemiologist Melissa Furlong, both at the University of Arizona, and Bethany Davis, translational genomics researcher from TGen.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cOur team will take a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the complex issue of the correlation between environmental exposure from legacy mining and cancer,\u201d Ingram said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Enhancing cancer prevention in the Navajo Nation through epidemiological data<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67860\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67860\" style=\"width: 433px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-67860\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-1.jpg\" alt=\"Chesleigh Keene, assistant professor, NAU Department of Educational Psychology, attends the introductory team meeting of the Center for Native American Cancer Health Equity (C-NACHE) on December 15 in the Applied Research and Development building on the NAU campus. \" width=\"433\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-1.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-1-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2022\/12\/C-NACHE-2022-1-768x594.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67860\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Chesleigh Keene, assistant professor, NAU Department of Educational Psychology, attends the introductory team meeting of C-NACHE on Dec. 15 in the Applied Research and Development building on the NAU campus.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Led by de Heer, the Navajo Cancer Workgroup study team hopes to impact cancer prevention by understanding that<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">Navajo cancer health disparities must be assessed by studying environmental contamination, poverty, poor access to care and clean water, disrupted food systems and high rates of diabetes throughout the Navajo Nation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The study is a collaboration between researchers from NAU, members of the Navajo Cancer Workgroup and regional cancer centers.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Navajo Cancer Workgroup was founded more than 20 years ago to enhance cancer observations and promote cancer prevention efforts. It is led by the Navajo Epidemiology Center and includes members of the University of Arizona and the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Centers, academic institutions throughout the region, representatives of the Arizona, New Mexico and Utah State cancer registries, Indian Health Service, the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center and others.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThese people represent experts in cancer epidemiology data and are ideally positioned to meet the overarching project goal of enhancing the impact of such data for cancer control and prevention among the Navajo people,\u201d de Heer said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Navajo Cancer Workgroup has produced two significant reports\u2013\u2013Cancer Among the Navajo, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nec.navajo-nsn.gov\/Portals\/0\/Reports\/Navajo%20Cancer%20Rpt%20062610.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">1995-2004<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nec.navajo-nsn.gov\/Portals\/0\/Reports\/Cancer%20Among%20Navajo%202018%20Spread.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">2005-2013<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u2013\u2013based on high-quality, population-based tumor and cancer registry data on incidence, stage at diagnosis and mortality from the six counties that include the Navajo Nation. The results indicate significantly higher rates of kidney, liver, stomach and gallbladder cancer and lower lung cancer rates than the U.S. population. Navajos are also diagnosed at later stages than the U.S. population for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The researchers will test change over time and regional variability in cancer incidence, mortality, staging and screening and will develop culturally relevant tools to directly engage Navajo communities, clinicians and policymakers with Navajo-specific cancer data to drive immediate and long-term cancer prevention and control planning.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cWe believe the project is important as it focuses on ways that we can utilize existing registry and epidemiology data relevant to the Navajo people to make a bigger impact on cancer control and prevention,\u201d de Heer said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The researchers hope to:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0a7\" data-font=\"Wingdings\" data-listid=\"7\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Wingdings&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9642],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0a7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Disseminate scientific data across the Navajo Nation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0a7\" data-font=\"Wingdings\" data-listid=\"7\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Wingdings&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9642],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0a7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Develop a user-friendly data dashboard to share and regularly update the data.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0a7\" data-font=\"Wingdings\" data-listid=\"7\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Wingdings&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9642],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0a7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Engage with collaborators to create a Navajo cancer control and prevention plan based on the data.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cI think C-NACHE as a center provides a strong foundation of resources and expertise needed to effectively engage stakeholders across our region to move the needle on cancer prevention and control in Tribal nations,\u201d de Heer said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56007\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png\" alt=\"Northern Arizona University Logo\" width=\"123\" height=\"87\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-600x426.png 600w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png 905w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 123px) 100vw, 123px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Lisa Dahm | Center for Health Equity Research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/cancer-health-equity\/\">Improving cancer screening rates among Native Americans, increasing education about tribe-specific cancer trends and addressing disproportionately high exposure to carcinogenic environmental contaminants are just a few goals of the newly funded Center for Native American Cancer Health Equity (C-NACHE).\u00a0 Nicolette Teufel-Shone, associate director of the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) and a professor in&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":67857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}