NCI Project Targets Cancer Awareness in Asian-American Community

BETHESDA, Maryland—The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched a 5-year, $7.6 million project at seven leading cancer centers to address the disease among Asian Americans. Although Asian Americans have a relatively low overall risk, their cancer incidence is rising faster than that of any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Asian Americans also suffer disproportionately from several forms of the disease, including liver, stomach, and cervical cancer.

The Asian-American community consists of more than 30 distinct ethnic groups and includes about 800 languages and dialects. The Asian-American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Treatment (AANCART) will develop cancer awareness and prevention programs for specific subpopulations. It also aims to increase the number of Asian Americans participating in cancer clinical trials, train more Asian-American health care workers in community cancer prevention, and do research to reduce the cancer burden of this segment of the US population.

The University of California, Davis, Cancer Center will serve as headquarters for the project. Moon S. Chen, Jr., PhD, of UC-Davis, will be the principal investigator.

Other centers participating in the program are the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York; Solove Cancer Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; University of California, San Francisco, Comprehensive Cancer Center; and the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles.