The Core has also played a pivotal role in developing a collaboration with BET.com, the interactive division of Black Entertainment Television, a key source of information for African-Americans. BET.com has over 2.7 million unique visitors per month. The Core and the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention developed content for BET.com’s Cancer Center, which provides extensive information on cancer among African-Americans. This collaboration provides high visibility in the African-American community. In addition, this web site allows visitors to BET.com to participate in Web-based research projects conducted by Drs. Graham Colditz and Gary Bennett from the Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Risk Reduction programs, respectively, thus increasing the diversity of participants in those projects. This work has utilized the web site, www.YourCancerRisk.harvard.edu, developed by the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention with substantial input from the HC Core.

We have also provided extensive service to clinical programs related to patient recruitment and materials development. For example, we provided service to Dr. Bruce Chabner’s research patient navigation studies related to breast cancer screening and follow-up. We conducted a review of existing materials to determine their adequacy for the target population, and have provided input and assistance on the development of new materials. Dr. Chabner’s work has led to the screening of 647 patients at three health centers; 46 of these patients have been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Of the 647 patients served: 75% are of African descent or Latino, 53% primarily speak a language other than English, and 42% are uninsured.