From Our Community Outreach and Engagement Leadership

Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) efforts at Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, are advancing cancer care based on the unique needs of our South Texas community.

Read on to learn more from our leaders.

Rebecca Jones, Institute for Health Promotion Research

Dear Community Members,

The Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, has proudly served South Texas for decades. Our community’s needs are as unique and diverse as our population. Incidences of certain cancers are significantly higher than elsewhere in the nation and many of our community members must travel great distances to access basic care.

As the region’s only NCI-designated cancer center, we are charged with extending the reach of our services beyond cancer center walls. Through Community Outreach and Engagement, we are identifying key partners to help us raise the level of cancer services. Our comprehensive goals encompass education, research and sharing best practices. 

We are poised to achieve these goals by:

• Monitoring the cancer burden in the catchment area
• Developing meaningful relationships with community organizations
• Bringing the community needs and concerns to MCC research programs

We partner with organizations across South Texas, including numerous area health education centers, to raise awareness and address cancer disparities. Our efforts include everything from community events to cancer education classes, cancer screening events and cancer survivor services. These activities augment some of our early successes with innovative approaches for addressing cancer access and education in South Texas.

We work to connect MCC research faculty directly to communities because we believe a bidirectional relationship between community members and the institutions that provide cancer and other health care services is essential to reducing the burden of cancer. These efforts are fueling future research activities to address our community’s unique needs. And we hope the learnings from these studies will eventually serve as a novel blueprint for delivering high-quality, culturally sensitive cancer care in underserved communities.

I welcome you to learn more about our activities, publications and events. If you would like to learn more or partner with us, please don’t hesitate to contact us.