If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily morning newsletter, How To LA. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news.But the how’s and why’s are not well understood because Asian Americans are severely underrepresented in medical research. That means they may be missing out on life-saving intervention programs.
Tanjasiri, who oversees community engagement at UC Irvine’s cancer center, is part of a national effort that was recently awarded nearly $12.5 million from the National Cancer Institute.The plan is to start the process of recruiting 20,000 enrollees this year, with the aim of expanding the number to 50,000.
“Over time, we'll be able to look at how many develop cancer,” said Iona Chen, one of the principal investigators at UC-San Francisco. “And it allows us to look at multiple cancers: lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer.”Zul Surani, who oversees Cedars’ community outreach, says over the coming months staff, many of them bilingual, will share information about the study with organizations trusted among the region’s large Asian American communities.
Enrollees would not have to visit a study site to participate. Biosamples would be collected by mail and interviews can be conducted remotely. Tanjasiri said in her 30-plus-year-long career she hasn’t had the opportunity to access cancer data that will provide the level of detail expected from the new study.