$17.7 Million ChicagoCHEC Grant to Continue to Address Cancer Equity in Chicago
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has committed $17.7 million to renew the Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative (ChicagoCHEC) grant for another five years. ChicagoCHEC is the Midwest’s first comprehensive, tri-institutional, partnership to advance cancer health equity in the city of Chicago. ChicagoCHEC brings together the strengths of two federally designated, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where ChicagoCHEC efforts are led by investigators Marian Fitzgibbon, Ph.D., and John Stewart, M.D., M.B.A and Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) where ChicagoCHEC efforts are led by investigators Christina Ciecierski, Ph.D., and Lidia Filus, Ph.D., with a world class NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (NU-LCC) where ChicagoCHEC is led by investigators Melissa Simon, M.D., M.P.H., and Joseph Feinglass, Ph.D.
NCI’s first award to ChicagoCHEC was announced in October 2015. Building on the momentum of the first five years, ChicagoCHEC plans to continue to support research on health inequities in cancer. A primary mission in the renewal is to engage communities that are disproportionately impacted by cancer health inequities in Chicago with cancer-related programs and outreach activities, and coordinate research education and mentoring opportunities to advance a pipeline of diverse students and early career faculty in cancer research careers. Lastly ChicagoCHEC, will continue to leverage resources from all three universities involved in this unique tri-institutional partnership to advance cancer health equity across the city of Chicago.
