The P60 Center of Excellence in Prostate Cancer Disparities was part of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Centers of Excellence Program. The center was comprised of a group of interdisciplinary investigators with expertise in prostate cancer, health disparities, neighborhood (cartographic) analysis, and genetics to study a variety of issues related to prostate cancer outcomes.
P60 Mission
1. Undertake transdisciplinary, translational research about the effects of biological, behavioral, social environmental, physical environmental, and health care factors on prostate cancer outcomes.
2. Establish a foundation for developing interventions that can be used to address disparities in prostate cancer outcomes, particularly as they apply to African American men.
3. Disseminate this information to at-risk populations and the clinical or public health community.
P60 Projects
1. The role of obesity in poor prostate cancer outcomes
2. The use of genetic markers, neighborhood factors, and patient factors to predict prostate cancer outcomes
3. How differences in treatment are affected by health care access and quality
P60 Cores
The center also included specialized cores that added support to the specific projects. These included research and community cores to assist with study guidance, patient outreach and recruitment, statistical modeling, and sharing results with the community at-large.
Contextual Analysis Core (CONAC)
CONAC provided the P60 projects with services for geospatial and network analysis to understand the role of neighborhood and other area-level factors on prostate cancer outcomes and disparities. Services include geocoding and mapping resources, integration of geospatial data, and integration of area-level data from census, public health, and built environment databases with project-specific data.
Prostate Cancer Community Engagement, Evaluation and Dissemination Core (Pro-CEED)
Pro-CEED provided consultation and assistance with the development of evidence-based strategies to ensure timely recruitment of subjects and implementation of study activities and to begin the process of translating the findings into action to reduce health disparities. To ensure community engagement from start to finish, the core developed community-based participatory strategies for disseminating the results from P60 projects to appropriate stakeholders.
Research Training Core (RESTRAC)
RESTRAC aimed to prepare individuals from diverse background to become leaders and members of effective research and dissemination teams in cancer disparities. The training and educational program provided short and intermediate training opportunities to offer future health disparities researchers the opportunity to develop skills in conducting cancer health disparities research. This training occured in a productive, supportive and team-oriented research environment with substantial interaction with primary mentors and content-area preceptors.
Administrative Core
The Administrative Core provided oversight to P60 by monitoring and evaluating progress, enhancing integration amongst projects and cores, and enhancing integration of research and dissemination.