Prostate and Testicular Cancer Screening, Education and Awareness 2016

According to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts & Figures 2013 -2014, African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the United States for most cancers. And, although the overall racial disparity in cancer death rates is decreasing, in 2009, the death rate for all cancers combined continued to be 31% higher in African American men than white men, respectively. In 2013, 94,540 cancer cases were expected for newly diagnosed among African Americans. 35,430 (37%) of these cases are prostate diagnoses. In Illinois, it is estimated that there will be 9,230 new prostate cancer cases, a 5.4% increase from the from new case in 2012. In addition, the mortality rate is 58.5 which is higher than the US rate at 53.1. It is estimated that in Illinois, 1,230 men will die as a result of prostate cancer. Testicular cancer, on the other hand, there are only expected to be 320 new cases identified this year and only 20 are expected to die from the condition. Testicular cancer is a condition that is most often diagnosed in younger and white males. In cancer, more than any other disease area, early detection defines the standard of care on an ongoing basis. A number of Lurie Cancer center initiatives have been developed that routinely engage community and others in screening and prevention opportunities. While these efforts are very successful, we continually strive to broaden the base of screening participants and assure that all communities are aware of the benefits available to them from the cutting-edge clinical research protocols available at the Lurie Cancer Center. With demographic projections indicating the greatest growth in cancer patients will be among minority and medically underserved groups, we propose the development of a focused prostate and testicular screening, education, and awareness program. Specifically, we propose the creation of transdisciplinary team dedicated to developing a patient education, engagement and recruitment program focused on African American men. The collective will share their experience in the clinical research arena and work with faculty and staff in developing and implementing this initiative. Whether via print materials, education groups, or one-on-one interactions, the goal would be to have contact with all men cancer patients at the appropriate points during their screening, evaluation and treatment. With the historic under-representation of some groups in screening, we have decided to focus first on participants in our existing portfolio of events and community education, with the expectation that we will continue to impact minority and other medically underserved patients to a great extent in this population. Once the initiative has demonstrated proof of principle, we would fully expect to expand to include new efforts of targeted populations in the Lurie Cancer Center catchment. Over the last seven years, the OEMH has engaged in a number of prostate cancer screenings and, advocacy and education efforts serving minority and medically underserved populations. For example, we are particularly proud of our continued support of the Thapelo Institute, Inc. - Annual Health & Fitness Experience for Men. Founded in 2003, Thapelo serves as a catalyst to educate the public in general and African American men in particular on strategies for the implementation of positive health behaviors for the prevention of illness and management of disease. Made up of the state’s most influential African American male medical and public he