XXXV. Grand Opening

I loved being in India. In the time that I knew I would be there, much was accomplished. When the time came to leave, I left with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and just about no regret. As I had suspected, I also got some new perspectives on how we work here. I am gratified that after a week of being back home, this place still feels “new.” The depressing things I heard about American’s reactions to the economy news while I was a way are not hanging like a dark cloud over life here. There is great promise in the air. As life was in India, and just about everywhere I suppose, perception is formed by the close-up and personal relationships we have with the people with whom we have contact on the playing fields of life. We have wonderful people here and I am lucky to have helped to create the playing fields on which all play.

The South Carolina Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program was founded in 2003 to address some of the largest cancer disparities in the country; and, in some instances, in the world. For example, African Americans in South Carolina have the highest rate of one of the most deadly forms of cancer of the esophagus (squamous cell) in the nation. It is about 7 times higher than what is seen in European Americans, despite the fact that the rate of cigarette smoking (this cancer’s major risk factor) in African Americans is much lower. The prostate cancer incidence rate among African Americans is the highest in the nation (and about 80% higher than that of European Americans), and mortality is the highest in the world. Similarly, the death rate among African-American women diagnosed breast cancer is the highest in the nation. Indeed, it would be hard to find an example that does not disfavor African Americans.

In its short history the Cancer Prevention and Control Program has made good progress in describing the “cancer problem” in terms of both the scale and diversity of the kinds of cancers we see and where they are located within our beautiful, if somewhat beleaguered, state. This has entailed working with many other partners, including those in state government, such as the best-in-the-country South Carolina Central Cancer Registry. The August 2006 special issue of the Journal of South Carolina Medical Association was unprecedented in providing a graphical description of cancer in a state within the U.S., for and allowing the voices of the community to be heard in a peer-reviewed medical journal. On the front cover of the current (1 June 2009) issue of Cancer, is featured our article (1) on mapping cancer mortality rates within our state (and the first of its kind for anyplace in the world). It can be accessed through a link from the CPCP website. These careful descriptions are things about which South Carolinians can be justifiably proud. Indeed, they have become models nationally. This map (printed with permission from the copyright owner, American Cancer Society and the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) illustrates the dire situation with respect to breast cancer.

It is not enough, though, just to describe the problem. We are not “ivory-tower” academicians. So, these careful descriptions also should point the way to solutions. So, we also have begun to address some of the underlying causes related to the larger environment in which we all live, and the various lifestyle choices we all make. Our goal in this is to identify things that individuals, or many of us working collectively, can do to reduce the rates of many different types of cancer and the destruction and suffering of individuals, families, and communities they cause. Many of the things that we have found to reduce rates of cancer also will help individuals, families, and entire communities to help control other major killers and causes of disability, such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The wonderful Cancer Prevention and Control Program members that constitute our program are a smart, fun-loving and inviting group of people. It will take them, working in concert with members of the community (see XXXII. Interdisciplinarity and Community-Based Participatory Research), to really change things for the better.

Much of our work focuses on diet and physical activity. Fundamental changes are needed if we are going to make a real, durable difference in terms of lowering the rates of cancer and other deadly diseases. We also believe that these changes expand how people see, taste, smell, and otherwise experience the world. Indeed, the universe to which people are introduced is bigger than what they had known before. All of us believe that we cannot do this with a heavy heart; so, we really try to make it fun. This does not mean that it is not hard work. When one is confronted with a life-threatening illness, or whole communities whose very existence is threatened, it is absolutely essential to take it seriously. Most major changes that have occurred in the world have been made by people who understand the gravity of the problem they are confronting, while at the same time greeting the challenges with both resolve and great senses of humor.

This next weekend, the 5th and 6th of June, the Cancer Prevention and Control Program will celebrate the grand opening of our new location at 915 Greene Street (across from the Colonial Center) in USC's new Innovista campus. As careful stewards of public funding (though none of these events are paid from public coffers), we feel a special obligation to open the doors to experiencing the world in a new way to the public we are here to serve. On Saturday, the 6th, events including cooking demonstrations and many different forms of entertainment (including music and a visit by Cocky!) will be open to the public (see http://cpcp.sph.sc.edu/ for more information).

Reference:
Hebert JR, Daguise VG, Hurley DM, Wilkerson RC, Mosley C, Adams SA, Puett R, Burch JB, Steck SE, Bolick-Aldrich S. Mapping cancer mortality-to-incidence ratios to illustrate racial and gender disparities in a high-risk population. Cancer 2009;115(11):2539-52.