 |
Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, Ph.D. |
The CDC has recommended the program receive $200,000 annually through 2012.
Dr. Watanabe-Galloway, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, is the grant’s principal investigator and director of the Northern Plains Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NPCCCP) for the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board. The goal of the program is to increase access to cancer care and decrease cancer burden for members of 18 tribes in Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“The program’s work with tribal communities has been gratifying, although the effort has been one that requires patience and confidence because the participating tribal communities are isolated from one another and spread across four states,” said Dr. Watanabe-Galloway, who also is associate director of health disparities at the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death of American Indians in the northern plains and thanks to the grant, the NPCCCP will be able to lessen the impact of the disease among the region’s tribes, said Carole Anne Heart, executive director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board.
“This grant provides continued support for our efforts to understand and control cancer,” Heart said. “We all know that cancer touches every life in some way — through family or friends. In Indian country, we have few resources with which to deal with it, but we do have good partners in the effort. We are very pleased to receive the support of the CDC.”
NPCCCP collaborates closely with tribal leaders, Indian Health Services, the American Cancer Society, state comprehensive cancer control programs, academic institutions – including UNMC — and several others to improve cancer care for the area’s American Indian tribes.
UNMC College of Public Health Dean Jay Noren, M.D., lauded the efforts of Dr. Watanabe-Galloway and praised the CDC for awarding the grant to the NPCCCP.
“This grant to the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board from CDC will greatly enhance the ongoing collaboration between the tribal health board and the UNMC College of Public Health in cancer control and prevention in the American Indian population,” Dr. Noren said.