Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program

Philip Lazarus, Ph.D., Program Leader and Elana Farace, Ph.D., Program Co-leader

The mission of the Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Program is to decrease cancer incidence and mortality and to improve the quality of life for people with cancer or at increased risk for cancer by emphasizing research in cancer prevention, epidemiology, community outreach, and cancer survivorship, with a particular focus on the rural, medically underserved population cared for at the Penn State Cancer Institute.  A major focus of this program is to decrease the cancer burden in rural PA by focusing research on intervention strategies that focus on rural outreach mechanisms, developing innovative ways to lower cancer risk by working with community groups and organizations, particularly those in medically-underserved areas, and designing effective ways to promote screening, cancer knowledge, and awareness in these communities.  A second major focus is to examine the interaction between exposure to carcinogens, variations in cancer susceptibility genes and cancer risk in the population.  A third major focus is to improve cancer survivorship through the study of quality-of-life outcomes following a cancer diagnosis, and the development, assessment, and implementation of novel interventions designed to change health behaviors and to improve the quality of life of survivors and their family caregivers.  The ultimate goal of these aims is to identify risk factors that improve our understanding of the etiology of human cancer and lead to the identification of strategies to prevent their occurrence, minimize negative outcomes and improve quality of life.  Examples of current research include:

• Studies examining health service disparities in Appalachia (Gene Lengerich, VMD)

• The development of computer software and hardware to visualize and analyze the geo-temporal distribution of cancer data (Alan MacEachren, PhD)

• Studies examining cancer communication between provider and cancer patient and their effect on medical decision-making such as advanced directives (Michael Green, MD)

• Analysis of the impact of neurocognition (e.g., memory, language, attention) on quality of life in cancer survivors (Elana Farace, PhD)

• Impact of the cancer diagnosis on cancer survivors employment, earnings, and health insurance (Pamela Short, PhD)

• Studies focusing on identifying nutritional components that may be important agents for the prevention of cancer (Terryl Hartman, PhD)

• The analysis of variations in genes important in the metabolism of carcinogens and their association with biomarkers of cancer risk (Philip Lazarus, PhD; Joshua Muscat, PhD; John Richie, Jr., PhD)

The above research is pursued using an interdisciplinary approach involving significant intra- and inter-programmatic collaborations with other PSCI program members.  The CPC program consists of over 30 Members from several Penn State Colleges with a broad range of expertise, including epidemiology, genetics and molecular biology, chemistry and biochemistry, social science, social work, nutrition, and nursing.  Future goals will include an expansion of research on, (1) factors affecting cancer survivorship, and (2) novel intervention strategies to help prevent cancer.

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