Disparities & Community Outreach Core

The Disparities and Community Outreach Core provides services to support disparities-focused research at Sylvester. The core works with researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines including oncology, epidemiology, psychology, sociology, and genetics.

The creation of the core reflects the cancer center’s commitment to disparities-focused research, as well as research that addresses South Florida’s unique racial and ethnic populations and poor and underserved communities. The tri-county South Florida area (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties) represents one of the most racially/ethnically and socio-economically diverse metropolitan areas in the United States. Minority, low income, and immigrant population sub-groups in this area contribute disproportionately to cancer morbidity and mortality.

To help address these disparities, the core provides services that assist researchers in identifying specific communities at increased risk of adverse cancer outcomes, and in working effectively with such communities towards mutually beneficial research aims. Services include consultation on research design and study implementation, development of community research partnerships, as well as project coordination and management. The core also provides investigators descriptive population data as well as cancer incidence and mortality data at the national, state, county, and census track/block levels.