Mayo Researchers Awarded NCI Grant To Address Cancer Burden of Native Americans in Rural Areas

The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has been awarded a Rural Health supplement grant for a unique study focused on addressing disparities in the cancer burden faced by American Indian/Alaska Native populations. The PI on the grant, Robert Diasio, MD, and Program Lead, Carmen Radecki Breitkopf, PhD, will leverage a community-engaged approach, which honors cultural nuances and strong, existing platforms with Native populations, to develop a collaborative cancer control plan with two tribes in rural Minnesota. The team will collaborate with tribal leadership to develop, implement and sustain a cancer control strategy and research program, based on shared knowledge of the needs expressed, risk factors identified, and the uptake of cancer screening and HPV vaccination. Understanding efforts and priorities may differ between tribes, the project will also assess behavioral risk factors for cancer, screening rates, and attitudes toward change/maintenance of cancer risk/prevention behaviors, and will determine HPV vaccination rates among age-eligible children and characterize attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge regarding HPV vaccination as a cancer prevention behavior. NARO Director Wes Petersen, PhD, and Spirit of Eagles Director Jonathan Baines, MD, are collaborators on the grant.