For Community

Community Academic Grants

OCECHE established a community-academic research partnership mini-grant program to build relationships and develop strong community-academic partnerships between two-member organizations of OCECHE’s Community Advisory Board and four University of Chicago Medicine cancer researchers to drive community-engaged cancer research projects across the full cancer research spectrum. The relationship development grants are for joint projects over a 6-month period to bring community perspectives into the cancer research process.

2024 Academic Grants

In 2024, OCECHE awarded $15,000 to two community-based organizations and cancer investigators from across the UCCCC’s research programs:

Researcher/Community Organization: Marcia Tan, PhD/Lisa Howard, The Image of Grace
Amount: $5,000
Project: Using Photovoice to create dialogue around the experience of cancer patients and survivors in healthcare settings

Researcher/Community Organization: Dario Villamar, MD/Centro Comunitario Juan Diego
Amount: $10,000
Project: Cancer Needs Assessment in the Hispanic/Latino Community to Improve Engagement with Cancer Prevention and Awareness of Cancer Clinical Trials: A mixed Methods Community Partnership

Previous Community-Academic Grants

2021: $5,000 Partnership Development Grant Recipients

Program	Community Partner	UChicago Faculty	UCCCC Research Program	Overview
Tackling the Health Disparities in Underserved and Uninsured Communities	Cancer Support Center	Gregory Karczmar, PhD	Cancer Prevention and Control	Provided uninsured women free mammogram and breast MRI.
Educating Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Survivors and Caregivers About Basic Science Leukemia and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Research	Trisha Mondal, Screen To Succeed	Wendy Stock, MD Adam Duvall, MD, MPH Denisse Martinez, LSW	Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics	10 AYA met virtually for six weeks, to cover a series of topics including mindfulness, coping skills, and mental health. Resources and support were provided.
Demystifying Lung Cancer Science for the Community	Ivy Elkins, EGFR lung cancer	Marina Garassino, MD Sherin Rouhani, MD, PhD	Immunology and Cancer	UChicago Med faculty and Ivy Elkins from EFGR lung cancer met for three months to share their work and identify potential collaboration opportunities, including co-hosting educational events.

2022 Grant Recipients

Program	Grant Recieved	Community Partner	UChicago Faculty	UCCCC Research Program	Overview
Building Capacity for African American Breast Cancer Survivors In Cancer Research	Partnership Development ($5,000)	Angela Waller, Elevated Survivorship	Marcia Tan , PhD, MPH	Cancer Prevention and Control	Hosted 4-week virtual training for breast cancer survivors across the country.
CORE 2.0	Research ($10,000)	Peer Plus DuSable Museum	Joyce Tang, MD	Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics	A special grant for CORE members to collaborate with UChicago Med faculty.
Increasing Health Literacy and Agency in Black and Latino Ovarian Cancer Patients	Research ($10,000)	Kimberly Richardson, Black Cancer Collaborative	Katherine Kurnit, MD, MPH	Cancer Prevention and Control	Hosted bi-weekly meetings to train about patient advocacy, and curated personal stories emphasizing the necessity of clinical research.

2023 Grant Recipients

Program

Grant Recieved

Community Partner

UChicago Faculty

UCCCC Research Program

Overview

Building Capacity for African American Breast Cancer Survivors In Cancer Research

$5,000

Lisa Howard, The Image of Grace

Marcia Tan, PhD, MPH

Cancer Prevention and Control

Developed interview and focus group guide to conduct qualitative research.

Developed research proposal for a $10K OCECHE research grant for January 2024.

Cancer Needs Assessment in the Hispanic/Latino Community

$10,000

Juan Diego, Centro Communitario

Dario Villamar, MD

Cancer Prevention and Control

Conducted cancer needs assessment in the Hispanic/Latino community to improve engagement with cancer prevention and awareness of cancer clinical trials.