The Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership (MVTCP): History and Highlights of 20 Years of Accomplishments

Abstract

Cancer health disparities among populations are the result of a combination of socioeconomic, environmental, behavioral, and biological factors, which affect cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality, survivorship, financial burden, and screening rates. The long-standing Meharry Medical College (MMC), Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Tennessee State University (TSU) Cancer Partnership has built an exceptional cancer research and training environment to support the efforts of diverse investigators in addressing disparities. Over the past 20 years, collaborative partnership efforts across multiple disciplines have supported research into the determinants of cancer health disparities at a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center (VICC) along with enhancing research infrastructure and training at MMC and TSU, two institutions that serve predominantly underserved populations and underrepresented students. Moreover, the geographical placement of our Partnership in Tennessee, a region with some of the highest cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, has provided an especially important opportunity to positively affect outcomes for cancer patients.

The Meharry Medical College (MMC), Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), and Tennessee State University (TSU) Cancer Partnership (MVTCP) to Eliminate Cancer Health Disparities, is the longest standing U54 Comprehensive Partnership to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE) in the United States (referred to below as the “Partnership”). For 20 years, this established, highly collaborative, and mutually beneficial Partnership has provided a robust infrastructure to address and overcome cancer disparities while expanding research opportunities, recruitment, training, and outreach. The Partnership was initiated in 1999 between VICC, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC), and MMC, an Institution Serving Underserved Health Disparity Populations and Underrepresented Students (ISUPS) through an administrative supplement to the VICC Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG). In 2000, the Partnership successfully competed for one of only two funded NCI U54 CPACHE grants and again in 2006, with both submissions receiving an outstanding priority score. In 2011, 2016, and again in 2021, our cancer Partnership has been successfully renewed, but these times as a triad with the addition of another minority-serving institution, TSU, as a full partner, bringing to bear its strengths in both minority education and community outreach. The three institutions are geographically located within a five-mile radius in Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee, a region of the country with the highest cancer mortality rates,¹ among the highest breast cancer mortality rates in non-Hispanic Blacks,² and among the highest incidence of lung cancer in the United States.² This underscores the enormous need and potential for improved outcomes in cancer disparities through the work of our U54 Partnership. The presence of strong academic institutions paired need and opportunity to improve regional cancer health disparities. The MVTCP is poised to affect the objectives that drive the CPACHE initiative, specifically 1) to increase the participation of ISUPS in the nation’s cancer research and research training enterprise; 2) to produce more competitive grant applications from underrepresented scientists; 3) to increase the competitive research capacity of ISUPSs; 4) to increase the role of comprehensive cancer centers in augmenting education related to underserved populations; 5) to develop more effective outreach and education programs that will have an effect on underserved populations and individuals from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine and research; 6) to enhance research in cancer health disparities at comprehensive cancer centers; 7) to identify and share innovative methods and approaches that strengthen and sustain each partner. ³

Overview of the MVTCP Objectives and Structure

While incremental change is possible within a five-year timeframe, sustainable and meaningful change is often only possible over a longer course of time. The MVTCP, currently in its 20th continuous year of funding through the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has been instrumental in catalyzing and supporting important research initiatives and career advances throughout its funding. Our cancer Partnership has matured and developed strong and successful collaborative interactions based on a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship to affect policy-shifting and practice-changing research and initiatives. The overarching objective of comprehensive cancer centers and ISUPSs is to work collaboratively to increase research and training capacity while enhancing cancer-related activities that benefit the surrounding underserved community.⁴ Recent analyses clearly demonstrate successes based on publication outputs.⁵ Requirements for each U54 Partnership include four core components (including the Administrative Core, Planning and Evaluation Core, Research Education Core, and Outreach Core) and funding support for at least two full research projects and one pilot research project. Partnerships may also propose additional shared resource core services that augment partnership-related activities. In the MVTCP, three additional shared resource cores (Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core, Translational Pathology Core, and Population Research And Clinical Trials In Cancer Equity [PRACTICE] Core) are supported across the three institutions to enhance efforts, as illustrated in Figure 1. These cores facilitate the research, education, and outreach endeavors of the MVTCP. Each CPACHE awardee has a program steering committee (PSC) and an internal advisory committee (IAC), which in conjunction with the NCI Program, provide guidance to these efforts. There is also a community advisory board (CAB) to provide patient and community input across the various components. The success of CPACHE grants is measured in terms of research productivity, education, and training outcomes; community activities that affect health disparities; and infrastructure development that enhances the activities of the efforts.

Figure 1. Integration of MVTCP Components.

Overview of MVTCP Sites

Our cancer Partnership is led by a team of principal investigators with expertise spanning basic, clinical, and population science across three institutions with complementary facilities, resources, expertise, and access to special populations. The success of the MVTCP is founded in the commitment to it from leaders across the three institutions, as summarized in Table 1. Each institution leverages its strengths to support mutual benefit for the overall MVTCP efforts as outlined in detail below, and summarized in Table 2.

Table 1.

Institutional Commitment of Partner Institutions

Meharry Medical College	Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center	Tennessee State University
• Infrastructure for MVTCP programs in basic science, population-based research and oncology clinical trials • Research release time ranging from 50% – 80% for MVTCP research faculty • Infrastructure and space for the MMC components of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core and Translational Pathology Shared Resource Cores • Access to shared core resources and other cancer research programs including the Community Network Program and Meharry Translational Research Center (MeTRC) • Funds (up to 30% for basic and population-based investigators and up to 80% for clinical faculty) to supplement salaries of new MVTCP recruits at MMC for initial three years • Office and laboratory space for new MVTCP recruits • Large cadre of minority students with potential and enthusiasm for cancer research training • Access to the only Biochemistry and Cancer Biology PhD training program in any Historically Black College and University in US • Mentorship of junior faculty • Extensive involvement in recruitment of minorities for COVID-19 testing in Nashville area offers opportunities to engage in research to understand higher COVID-19 incidence and death rates and cancer in African Americans	• Infrastructure for MVTCP programs in basic science, public health, survivorship research • Infrastructure and space for Vanderbilt components of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core and Translational Pathology Shared Resource Cores • VICC membership and access to VICC-supported shared resources for MVTCP faculty as well as other resources such as the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) • Senior cancer researchers involved in mentorship of trainees, faculty career development activities and cancer disparities research collaborations • Staff positions supporting MVTCP administration and clinical trial operations • Full access to Vanderbilt graduate courses for MMC and TSU students • Motivated students eager to participate in cancer research training opportunities • Access to the Vanderbilt Eskind Digital Library	• Division of Research and Sponsored Programs services in pre- and post-award support, mentorship and information technology support • Infrastructure and space for the Cancer Outreach Core • Access to shared resources and research facilities • Research space for investigators wishing to engage in cancer research • Career development support for junior faculty • Access to educational programs for high school, undergraduate, graduate and medical students for training in careers in cancer research • 20% teaching release to research-oriented faculty

MVTCP, Meharry-Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership; MMC, Meharry Medical College; VICC, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; MMC, Meharry Medical College; TSU, Tennessee State University

Table 2.

Summary of Mutual Benefits to MVTCP by Three Partner Institutions

Meharry Medical College	Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center	Tennessee State University
• Successful minority patient clinical trials operations and active clinical fellows • Access to minority patients to draw candidates for cancer disparities research • Complementary expertise in population-based and basic cancer research for collaborative projects and initiatives • Training opportunities for minority students • Cancer research faculty for collaboration with faculty in VICC and TSU • Potential for development of collaboration on research linking high COVID-19 and cancer deaths in minorities	• Extensive experience, expertise and collaborative resources for cancer research and training • Demonstrated interest, infrastructure and track record in minority health disparities research • Access to shared resources and state of the art research facilities at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center • Opportunities for mentoring junior faculty and nurturing student engagement in cancer research in a large multi-faceted research intensive environment in basic, clinical, translational and population-based research	• Experience and expertise in reaching minority populations through culturally appropriate and sensitive interventions and population-based research • Local and state-wide access to minority populations • Training opportunities for minority students

MVTCP, Meharry-Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership; VICC, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; TSU, Tennessee State University; NCI, National Cancer Institute

Meharry Medical College.

Meharry Medical College (MMC) exists to improve the health and health care of minority and underserved communities by offering excellent education and training programs in health sciences, placing special emphasis on providing opportunities to people of color and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, delivering high-quality health services, and conducting research that fosters the elimination of health disparities. Meharry has a distinguished history of training a large percentage of the African American physicians and dentists currently active in the United States. Meharry graduates more African Americans with doctoral degrees in biomedical sciences than most institutions in the United States, ranking in the top three in the last five years. Although MMC has long been active in cancer research, only one cancer-related R01 grant was awarded to MMC between 1975 and 2000. The initiation of the MVTCP served as a catalyst for the recruitment of several cancer investigators, contributed to improvement of research infrastructure, and has propelled a shift in the relationship with VICC based on reciprocity and stronger mutual benefit. Meharry, with pivotal help from MVTCP funds, has grown its number of researchers in cancer biology, cancer epidemiology, and clinical cancer research. Further, MVTCP provided the major impetus for transition from a Biochemistry PhD program at Meharry to a Biochemistry and Cancer Biology PhD Program in 2007, accompanied by development of a cancer biology curriculum. These transitions led to a strong basic science department offering doctoral degree programs in both Biochemistry/Cancer Biology and Neuroscience/Pharmacology. The MVTCP established an Oncology Clinical Trials Core at Meharry during the first cycle of funding. The overarching goal was to enhance recruitment of African Americans to national oncology clinical trials program via VICC. This program has been highly successful as evidenced by enrollment of significant number of African Americans (comprising 55% of all participants) to the clinical trials. Although this program has encountered challenges, it has been a critical component of the overall success of the MVTCP.

Tennessee State University.

Tennessee State University (TSU), an 1890 land grant institution, is a major state-supported, urban and comprehensive university located in Nashville, Tennessee enrolling over 8,000 students and offering 45 programmatic bachelor’s degrees, 24 programmatic master’s degrees, and seven programmatic doctoral degrees. These include bachelor’s degrees in Health Sciences, Sociology, Psychology, Nursing, Foods and Nutrition, Chemistry, Biology and Engineering; master’s degrees in Public Health, Nursing, Social Work, Counseling Psychology, Chemistry, Biology, Biomedical Engineering; and doctoral degrees in Biological Sciences, Psychology (counseling psychology), Civil Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Computer Science, and Public Policy and Administration. The student body is diverse, with a composition that is 75% Black/African American, 22% White, and 4% other racial groups. This combination of characteristics differentiates the University from others and shapes its instructional, research, and service programs, all of which are designed to serve metropolitan Nashville, middle Tennessee, the state of Tennessee, the nation, and the global community. The University is committed to maintaining a diverse student body, faculty, and staff. Through the MVTCP, a pipeline has been established to attract undergraduate TSU students to cancer research, train and prepare them at TSU, then attract the most promising and talented of these students to TSU, MMC, and VICC master’s and doctoral degree programs focusing on cancer research. The synergy of this triad also contributes to National Cancer Institute’s overall goals of increasing the number of minority students who receive training in cancer research and enter careers in cancer research, as outlined through the metrics provided. In addition, as a land grant institution, TSU has a School of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences and is part of the Tennessee Extension Service. This extends the University’s mission and stakeholders to include all 95 Tennessee counties and qualifies TSU for certain funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources not currently available to MMC and VICC. Through MVTCP, TSU faculty can work together with MMC and VICC faculty to apply for collaborative cancer-related population/behavioral or basic science research through these funding sources. Tennessee State University offers to expand the minority researchers and trainees portfolio at Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), thus providing a critical pipeline to grow disparities-focused efforts at VICC.

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

Vanderbilt University (VU) VUMC have been at the forefront of groundbreaking cancer research and treatment for decades. The 2021 VU undergraduate student population comprises 23% URM, with a graduate population that is 17%, and a 2020 medical school population that is 30% URM in medicine. Formally established in 1993, VICC was intended to bring together all cancer-related research, treatment, education, and engagement at Vanderbilt. Within two years of being established, the VICC was awarded an initial NCI designation as a “clinical cancer center” and subsequently achieved comprehensive NCI designation status in 2001. It has an established track record of rapid translation of fundamental science discoveries into clinical practice through clinical investigation and trials, and it remains one of 51 centers with this designation (and the only comprehensive center serving both adults and children in Tennessee). The VICC mission is to alleviate cancer death and suffering through pioneering research; innovative patient-centered care; and evidence-based prevention, education, and community initiatives. The VICC vision is to continue to lead in paradigm-shifting science that translates to benefits for the patients and community we serve in our region and to reduce the burden of cancer nationally and globally. The MVTCP has been an integral part of VICC, predating its comprehensive status designation, and has provided the foundation and infrastructure to grow the disparities-focused efforts through research, education, and engagement, aligned and synergistic with MVTCP activities and leveraging the strengths of both MMC and TSU.

Research Productivity

The MVTCP has a long history of securing extramural funding for research, cooperative group networks, and training grants. Grants in the U, P, and R series for both research and training through the NCI and National Institute of Health (NIH), as well as other governmental and private entities have been won. Over the course of the past 20 years, the growth in securing grant funding has consistently increased from a total of seven grants during the first cycle to 51 during the most recent cycle, as illustrated in Table 3.

Table 3.

MVTCP Awarded Grants by Cycle¹

Grant Cycle	SC1-4	NIH RPGs	Foundations	Supplements	Other	Total
2001–2006	0	5	0	0	2	7
2006–2011	2	18	0	0	3	23
2011–2016	4	16	1	4	3	28
2016-Current	4	35	0	5	7	51

¹In overlapping grant years (2006, 2011, 2016) grants were counted in the earlier cycle (e.g., all grants awarded in 2006 were counted towards the 2001–2006 grant cycle)

MVTCP, Meharry-Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership; SC, Support of Competitive Research; RPGs, Research Project Grants

Another metric to demonstrate productivity of MVTCP investigators is the number of publications in peer-reviewed journals. As illustrated in Figure 2, between the years 2009 and 2020, there has been a significant increase in publications funded through the MVTCP. During the most recent funding cycle (2016–2020), there were a total of 200 publications that were supported directly by the MVTCP. As shown in Table 4, 25% of these publications include authors from at least two of the MVTCP institutions, indicating strong research collaborations across the universities and among project and core investigators. Furthermore, growth in the number of publications was observed across all categories of authors from all three institutions. Of interest, there were 101 publications involving MVTCP students as collaborators. Overall, there were increases in cancer-relevant publications among TSU and MMC faculty and students and increases in cancer-relevant health disparities publications among MVTCP-involved faculty and students at Vanderbilt. Taken together, these increases over time demonstrate the success of the MVTCP in achieving key CPACHE objectives, including increasing cancer research at ISUPSs, increasing cancer health disparities research at CCCs, and improving cancer research education for students and trainees, especially those at ISUPSs.

Figure 2. MVTCP Publications per Year 2009–2020.

Table 4.

MVTCP Publications to Date for the 2016–2021 Grant Cycle

Institution	Cancer/Health Disparity Relevant	U54 Direct Support3	Inter-institutional4	Intra-institutional5	Student Involved	High Impact (IF>10)
MMC	104	79	47	56	63	6
TSU	51	49	29	26	42	3
VU/VUMC1	1681	133	51	51	43	29
MVTCP Total2	253	200	63	93	101	33

¹Only includes publications that are both cancer and health disparities relevant for VU/VUMC

²Represents the total publications in each category for the partnership as a whole, but not a total of the lines for each institution above it as publications might count for both MMC and VICC, or TSU and MMC when publications are co-authored

³Direct support from MVTCP defined as investigators or their staff received salary support from the grant to support their research related to the publication, students were involved in the research and/or as co-authors, and/or MVTCP cores or shared resource cores supported the research that informed the publications

⁴At least one investigator from two or more MVTCP institutions serves as co-authors on a publication

⁵At least two or more investigators from the same MVTCP institution serve as co-authors on a publication

Education and Training Successes

Since its inception, the MVTCP has extensively expanded its role in the training of students, increasing the number of student trainees from seven during the first funding cycle, to 14 in the second, 60 in the third, and 87 in the fourth funding cycle (Figure 3). Overall, the number of doctoral students supported by MVTCP over time has remained relatively stable, as might be expected considering support of doctoral students was an early priority of MVTCP. Growth of undergraduate students with implementation of laboratory research experiences through the MVTCP is clearly evident since 2011. Similarly, the high school student research experience was initiated in 2016, allowing involvement of students in cancer research early in their academic lives. Intentional efforts to reach students earlier through MVTCP were motivated by a robust and growing body of research that demonstrates that affecting the cancer research pipeline must start early.^6–10 Specifically, there are data to indicate that identifying, recruiting, training, and maintaining underrepresented minority (URM) students in cancer research starting in high school increases the likelihood that they will develop a “science identity” and remain involved with cancer research overtime.^11–15 Since 2011, there has been consistent, although limited, involvement of master of science in public health (MSPH) students, recognizing the importance of continuing to engage this student population to support students who are interested in cancer research from a public health perspective. Importantly, these public health students are trained with theoretical and methodological tools to study and address social determinants of health, which contribute to widespread health disparities, including cancer. ^16,17 Finally, the inclusion of medical students in research was initiated in the first cycle of CPACHE funding, with robust growth, which has stabilized over the two most recent cycles.

Figure 3. New Students by Grant Cycle 2001–2020.

Community of Primary Focus for MVTCP Activities

The MVTCP has had a strong focus on serving the community, guided by a community-engaged research (CEnR) framework (Figure 4) to facilitate and nurture integration and partnership in conjunction with the robust CAB. To meet our objectives, we incorporate meaningful community engagement into research and outreach to ensure our activities reflect the needs and concerns of those populations that are most affected by cancer health disparities. The geographic reach of the MVTCP includes the Nashville-Davidson County Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of Middle Tennessee, which is a 14-county region with all three of our CPACHE sites located in the same county (Davidson) within the five-mile radius (Figure 5). The region served by the MVTCP has one of the highest rates of cancer mortality in the United States.¹ The cancers with the highest mortality rates in the Nashville-Davidson County MSA were lung and bronchus, prostate, colon and rectum, breast, pancreas, and ovarian. An evaluation of cancer burden within the MSA by race/ethnicity indicates that Black/White disparities exist.

Figure 4. Community Engagement Framework.

Figure 5. Geographic Region in Tennessee Served by the MVTCP Partnership with Race and Income Data.

The community outreach-focused activities of the MVTCP are centralized through the Cancer Outreach Core (COC) in conjunction with the robust CAB, which includes representatives from community-based health promotion organizations, faith-based organizations, and other community members (Figure 1). These efforts have supported several research projects, participation in capacity-building efforts, leadership in the conduct of a needs assessment,¹⁸ and development and implementation of online and multi-media efforts. In fact, based on direct CAB feedback, the COC developed our public-facing website, StopCancerTogether,¹⁹ disseminate COC products and information from the NCI and other sources. This website is used to showcase multiple videos highlighting MVTCP-funded research projects and students.

Infrastructure to Support Activities of the MVTCP

There are several examples that highlight the infrastructure made possible through the MVTCP for both research and training. Notably, our efforts were integral in the formation of the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS)²⁰ through an early U54-funded research collaboration between VICC and MMC. The SCCS, initiated in 2001, is a prospective cohort study of nearly 86,000 adults consented at age 40–79 through community health clinics across the Southeast, two-thirds of whom are African American. In fact, the development of the SCCS has provided the foundation for multiple high-quality/high-impact cancer disparities studies ^21–26 and supported multiple research studies funded through our U54 CPACHE grant. The SCCS has also provided research infrastructure critical to conduct policy-changing evaluation of cancer risk factors and outcomes and has played an integral role in practice-changing protocols for lung cancer screening. Specifically, analysis of SCCS data suggested that lung cancer screening guidelines may be too conservative for African American smokers,²⁷ which provided the foundation for the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to revise guidelines to consider race-specific smoking pack-years to guide eligibility for lung cancer screening.²⁸ This work has been foundational in extending additional efforts through the MVTCP focused on both lung cancer screening and smoking cessation studies.

Another effort that has both supported and provided additional overarching coordination for the MVTCP is the formation of the overarching Meharry Vanderbilt Alliance (MVA). This independent umbrella program initiated in 1998 was formed to develop and support collaborative opportunities for MMC and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). In addition to cancer initiatives, the Meharry Vanderbilt Alliance covers global research initiatives on diseases including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS and inter-institutional collaborations on graduate student training and medical education and training. The MVA also covers collaboration on community engagement with the goal of understanding and improving minority health in the four diseases of focus.

Among the most transformative contributions of the MVTCP have been contributions to policies to strengthen research infrastructure at MMC and TSU. These include revisions to institutional policies such that faculty at TSU without animal care facilities have full access to MMC facilities, which has been critical to support and grow basic science research efforts. Other policy revisions have included enabling MMC and TSU faculty to become members of the VICC, which provides them access to the robust resources available at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. Benefits of membership include use of core facilities at internal institutional subsidized rates and eligibility to apply for pilot-funding opportunities. MVTCP members can also apply for access to all journals in the Vanderbilt libraries as well as additional resources including grant and manuscript writing studios with experts in the scientific area, and funding available through the Vanderbilt-based Clinical Translational Science Award. Additionally, graduate students at MMC and TSU can take graduate courses at Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt students can enroll in graduate courses at MMC and TSU.

Activities through our cancer Partnership have also contributed to the creation of a highly successful cancer biology curriculum at TSU, training both high school students for college admission and undergraduates for admission into professional school, including graduate school, medical school, and dental school. As an indirect demonstration of the influence of the MVTCP, a program was initiated at TSU whereby students will be selected for an accelerated program for a bachelor of science (BS) degree at TSU coupled with an MD at MMC, administered through the presidents at both MMC and TSU, with the Dean of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine invited to serve on the advisory committee for this new program. In addition, students participating in the MVTCP high school cancer research training program are awarded a TSU Presidential Scholarship to attend TSU if they have a qualifying GPA and ACT score.

Changes Implemented to Adapt to the Lessons Learned Over 20 Years

Over the course of the past 20 years, we continually reassessed our processes and made numerous changes to strengthen our efforts. These included proactively planning for leadership transitions, through external or internal recruitment. In fact, over the most recent five-year cycle, leadership transitions seamlessly occurred at each of the three sites demonstrating the importance of proactive leadership transition planning. We also greatly strengthened our evaluation activities through internally identifying and recruiting an evaluator who now leads the evaluation core and has substantially expanded evaluation activities. Critical to this expansion is the robust interaction between the evaluator and all core and project leaders to develop logic models for defining goals and assessing accomplishments. The evaluator also participates in a CPACHE-wide evaluators group to ensure alignment between the MVTCP evaluation and other CPACHE partnership evaluations. The evaluator has also developed new tools for tracking outcomes about publications, grants, and community outreach activities, many of which we were able to automate with the help of VICC data analytics staff.

The MVTCP also evolved its membership of the internal advisory committee to ensure representation from all three institutions across all cores and projects, with a mechanism instituted such that each site has three voting members (nine total) to ensure equitable representation across the three institutions. Furthermore, membership in the program steering committee had been updated to ensure robust representation across all scientific disciplines relevant to projects and cores.

We also recognized the importance of the Administrative core to foster interactions across the projects and cores, which was the impetus to initiate a new workshop to stimulate collaborations among the three institutions. In an effort to systematically strengthen research project submissions included in our renewal application, the Administrative core instituted a new internal review process for projects submitted for funding by the MVTCP, whereby the faculty member leading each project participated in a “studio” review process whereby experts in the area of the project read the project and provided oral and written feedback to the project leaders.²⁹

Conclusion

Cancer health disparities based on factors such as race and ethnicity are the result of a combination of socioeconomic, environmental, behavioral, and biological factors. These disparities affect cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality, survivorship, financial burden, and screening rates. The long-standing and mature partnership described here has provided an exceptional cancer research and training environment to support the efforts of diverse investigators in addressing disparities. Our triad has benefited from sustained and strong collaborative interactions between the three partner institutions, resulting in robust community and educational outcomes. Moreover, the geographical placement of this triad in Tennessee, a region with some of the highest cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States, has provided a unique opportunity for our cancer Partnership to positively affect outcomes for cancer patients in this geographical region. As we embark on the next five years, we hope to continue to impact the involvement of under-represented minorities in cancer research, cancer mortality, early detection, and care in the Nashville metropolitan area. Collectively, over the past 20 years of partnership, these collaborative efforts have provided a robust infrastructure to address and overcome cancer disparities while expanding research opportunities, recruitment, and training.

Abbreviations:

MMC

Meharry Medical College

VICC

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

TSU

Tennessee State University

MVTCP

Cancer Partnership

ISUPS

Institution Serving Underserved Health Disparity Populations and Underrepresented Students

CPACHE

Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity

CCC

Comprehensive Cancer Center

CCSG

Cancer Center Support Grant

PRACTICE

Population Research And Clinical Trials In Cancer Equity Core

PSC

Program Steering Committee

IAC

Internal Advisory Committee

NCI

National Cancer Institution Program

CAB

Community Advisory Board

NIH

National Institute of Health

URM

underrepresented minority students

MPH

masters of public health students

CEnR

community-engaged research

MSA

Metropolitan Statistical Area

SCCS

Southern Community Cohort Study

USPSTF

United States Preventive Services Task Force

MVA

Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance

VUMC

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

VU

Vanderbilt University