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Welcome to GMaP Region 1 & 2!

For those of you who have been involved with GMaP Region 1&2 in the past, welcome back!  For those of you that are new to the program, we are happy to have you with us and look forward to your involvement!  The purpose of this initial newsletter for our new year of funding (covering the period 9/1/14 to 8/31/15) is to provide an overview of our goals and objectives, introduce you to GMaP Leadership and Regional Coordinators for the project year, let you know about some upcoming introductory calls and meetings, and provide you with a few updates from some of our regional sites.   


GMaP Region 1&2 Goals and Objectives 

Disparities in cancer morbidity and mortality exist on the basis of racial/ethnic differences and geography (with rural populations often faring poorly).  In addition, underserved populations are often poorly represented in cancer-related research.  In order to reduce such disparities, efficient collaboration is needed among researchers and community partners with connections to underserved populations.  The goal of GMaP Region 1&2 is to enhance the capacity of regional players to contribute to this effort by disseminating relevant information, fostering collaborative research applications and community outreach efforts related to cancer disparities (including biospecimen donation), and facilitating the career development of minority researchers.  Specific aims include:  

  1. Maintain a multi-disciplinary Internal Coordinating Committee (ICC) to provide overall leadership for the region's strategic planning.
  2. Maintain a Communication and Dissemination Subcommittee (C&D) with a primary goal of promoting relationships and collaborations among regional cancer-disparities researchers, communities and trainees through timely information exchange and resource-sharing among partners within and across regions.  
  3. Maintain a Faculty Recruitment/Job Placement Subcommittee (FR&JP) with the purpose of promoting the scientific and professional development of regional trainees and placing qualified trainees, and new and early-stage investigators into faculty positions and job vacancies within and across GMaP Region 1&2.  
  4. Maintain an Evaluation Subcommittee with a mandate to develop and implement indicators that measure the performance of the ICC, C&D, and FR&JP in meeting their specific aims.  

GMaP Region 1&2 also has two active workgroups:  A Biospecimen Workgroup , and a GIS/Environmental Factors Workgroup.  Please see the links at the bottom of the page if you are interested in joining either of these workgroups.  We are actively seeking to develop additional workgroups based on regional investigators' collaborative interests.  Please contact us if you would like to connect with other regional investigators on common research topics and we can facilitate development of additional workgroups.   


GMaP Region 1&2 Leadership 
GMaP Region 1&2 Leadership is shared between investigators at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Kentucky, and the University of South Carolina.  Please click on a name below to contact GMaP Region 1&2 Leadership with any questions about the program.   

Dr. Mark Dignan, University of Kentucky:                    ICC; C&D Subcommittee Chair 
Dr. Adrian Dobs, Johns Hopkins University:              ICC 
Dr. Jan Eberth, University of South Carolina:            GIS/Environmental Factors Workgroup Chair 
Dr. Tisha Fielder, University of South Carolina:         ICC; FR&JP Subcommittee Chair    
Dr. James Hébert, University of South Carolina:      ICC Chair; Evaluation Subcommittee Chair
Dr. Jennifer Wenzel, Johns Hopkins University:       ICC; Biospecimen Workgroup Chair 
 


GMaP Region 1&2 Regional Coordinators
Regional Coordinator (RC) duties will be shared between staff based at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Kentucky, and the University of South Carolina.  RCs will support investigators and various Committee, Subcommittee, and Workgroup efforts.  RCs will also be responsible for coordinating monthly conference calls and schedules, and trainee and investigator newsletters.  Please click on a name below to contact Regional Coordinators for more information about the program, or if you are interested in participating in any committees, subcommittees, or workgroups.   

Mark Cromo, University of Kentucky:                C&D Subcommittee; Additional New Workgroup  
Ashleigh DeFriesJohns Hopkins University:      ICC; Biospecimen Workgroup  
Julia Houston, University of South Carolina:        FR&JP Subcommittee; 
                                                                                        Evaluation Subcommittee;              
                                                                                        GIS/Environmental Factors Workgroup 



Upcoming Calls and Meetings

Click Here for standing call schedule for GMaP Region 1&2 Committees, Subcommittees, and Workgroups.  


National Cancer Institute Program-wide GMaP Kickoff Teleconference 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014  
2:00pm - 3:00PM Eastern 
Call-in Number:  (855) 259-6342  
Conference ID:  40127#
Pin: 3791# 


The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved
November 9-12, 2014 
Grand Hyatt Hotel
 San Antonio, TX 

GMaP Networking Opportunity!!!!  

What:       GMaP Reception and Networking Opportunity  
Where:    Bonham C Meeting Room 
Date:       Tuesday, November 11, 2014 
Time:       5:45PM - 7:00PM  


Please join GMaP investigators, trainees, and staff from around the country at a special GMaP reception at the upcoming Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved Conference in San Antonio!   A welcome will be provided by Mary Ann Van Duyn, PHD, MPH, RD, LD, GMaP Program Director from the National Cancer Institute, Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities.  Light refreshments will be served.  

We need to provide a count of who will attend from Region 1&2 - please RSVP HERE  


Mentoring Roundtables will also be held at the conference on November 10-11 at 7:00am.  No pre-registration is required.   See link for more information and discussion topics.  
 


Regional Updates

The University of Kentucky Prevention Research Center (UK PRC) has been a GMaP Region 1/2 partner for the last few years but is undertaking an expanded role in the project for the new funding period – we are excited to work with you!  


The goal of the UK PRC is to work to reduce the cancer burden in Appalachia, specifically Appalachian Kentucky, and most of our research, training, and outreach activities revolve around Appalachian populations.  The Appalachia Community Cancer Network (ACCN), with Headquarters at the UK PRC, is a multi-state project with the goal of reducing cancer health disparities in Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.  The ACCN overlaps with several states included in GMaP Region 1/2 - Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.  We hope this overlap in scope and project area between the two programs can help in bringing more partners from these states into GMaP Region 1/2 activities, and help to stimulate grant and training opportunities across the region.
 
The ACCN Training Program, known formally as the Appalachian Cancer Scholars Program (ACSP), includes early-stage investigators from across the region with interests in cancer health disparities and community-based participatory research.  ACSP Scholars are a diverse group with research interests ranging from signaling pathways and cell cycles in breast cancer to health communication.  We hope to integrate our Scholars into GMaP wherever possible, and keep them updated on career development and advancement opportunities through GMaP Communications and Dissemination Subcommittee efforts.  
The UK PRC, through previous GMaP pilot studies, has gained experience in collecting and storing biospecimens, and is eager to participate with other GMaP Region 1/2 institutions in the development of grant applications involving biospecimens, clinical trials, or community-based participatory research. 

The UK PRC has community advisory boards for all of our research projects, and strong community connections throughout our regional project areas.   We have a well-developed infrastructure of researchers and community partners throughout central Appalachia with the capacity to conduct diverse research projects in the region.
   
This has been an extraordinarily successful year for the South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network-II. The Administrative Core continues working with efficiency locally, supporting the efforts of the Community Outreach, Research, and Training Cores.


In March of this year, we published a special issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention (CEBP) on the CNPCs.  Currently, we are in the process of publishing another special issue in Progress in Community Health Partnerships.

We have emerged as a leader of the GMaP effort in Regions 1 & 2, and have assumed leadership of the National Community/Clinical Trials Affinity Group (CCTAG). We also have been very actively involved in both the national Training Subcommittee, which has entailed spearheading mentoring/training initiatives both locally and nationally (including the CNPC-wide mentoring/training survey, and subsequent manuscript); and the Biospecimen Affinity Group.
 
We remain strongly committed to addressing the entire cancer research continuum and the tenets of community-based participatory research (CBPR) in virtually all that we do. Our pilot project has already published six manuscripts and has another under review. The continued publication of articles from that project, as well as additional funding obtained to sustain the activity reflects our willingness and ability to continue to engage with the community in other ways.
 
We are particularly proud of our ability to reach and connect with communities, most notably around breast, prostate, cervical, and colorectal cancers and in communities that both need and appreciate the effort. Our Training Core remains uniquely committed to both pipeline/community development issues involving HBCUs, especially Benedict College, located here in Columbia, and the more traditional academic-based training and mentoring of junior faculty, students, and other trainees. Nationally, we have taken the lead in conducting the second National Mentoring/Training Survey, which was completed with ≈90% participation. This first major mentoring survey ever conducted in the context of CBPR, which is the mainstay of the CNPC, has incredibly important implications. 

   


Here are some upcoming events from the Johns Hopkins Center to Reduce Cancer Disparities. 

November 13, 2014
12:00-1:30
Koch Cancer Research Bldg.
Owens Auditorium 
1550 Orleans St., Baltimore, MD
NIH Grants Workshops: Session 1:
Sponsored by the Professional Development Office and 
Johns Hopkins Center to Reduce Cancer Center
 
November 20, 2014
12:00-1:30
Koch Cancer Research Bldg.
Owens Auditorium 
1550 Orleans St., Baltimore, MD
NIH Grants Workshops: Session 2(different session/topic)
Sponsored by the Professional Development Office and 
Johns Hopkins Center to Reduce Cancer Center
 
January 29, 2015
12:00-1:30
Hampton House, Room 744
Manuscript Planning, Preparing and Submitting
Sponsored by Center for Health Disparities Solutions and 
Center to Reduce Cancer Disparities
Roland J. Thorpe, PhD, Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
 
November 4 and 18
December 2 and 16
12pm-1pm at Johns Hopkins Hampton House, Room tbd
Community Based Participatory Research Seminar Series

 

You are receiving this newsletter because you expressed interest while part of BMaP and/or GMaP and on behalf of the Internal Coordinating Committee, we want to extend an invitation to you to join one of the initial workgroups now convening - Bio-specimens and GIS/Environmental Factors. Here is a Google Groups user guide for your review.

Beginning in 2014, there are many ways to collaborate using our new Google platform. You will need to sign up for a Google account to access all the collaboration features. Google allows the GMaP members with GMail accounts to join Google Groups; Google+ Circles and Hangouts; Google Calendar; Google Drive; Picasa and use Google Docs and other collaborative tools. Through the use of Blogger as our GMaP R1/R2 website, members will be updated through RSS feeds tailored to your interests.

The Google site is currently under development and we need your input to update researcher profiles, information and communications preferences. Please take a few minutes to fill out our survey which will allow you to join one of the workgroups as well as to upload your bio, CV and photo for our directory.

 

The survey will take less than 5 minutes- click here.


In the interim, our monthly newsletter, weekly e-blasts and Google Drive will serve as our repository for announcements and materials. I will be making these available to you based upon your current contact emails but please let me know if you experience any difficulties or obtain a GMail account.

In the footer of this email, you will find hyperlinks to other social media platforms where we can connect and share information!

Best regards,
Ashleigh DeFries (RC1-JHU), Julie Houston (RC2-USC) and Mark Cromo (RC3-UKY)

 

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