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Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE)

Initiated in 2001, the Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE) is a program that provides institutional awards for the development of partnerships between institutions serving underserved health disparity populations and underrepresented students (ISUPS) and NCI-designated Cancer Centers (CCs). Each partnership is expected to conduct cancer and cancer health disparities research, develop and implement cancer research experiences and research education for scientists and students, and to effectively outreach and disseminate cancer advances to underserved communities. If you are interested in more information, contact the principal investigators listed in the PACHE Project Listing.

What PACHE Does

The PACHE Program is designed to:

  • Increase the participation of the ISUPS in cancer research and research training.
  • Increase the involvement and effectiveness of NCI-designated CCs in developing effective research, education and outreach programs to encourage diversity among competitive researchers and reduce cancer health disparities.

These partnerships foster and support intensive collaborations to develop stronger cancer programs intended on understanding cancer health disparities that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

The PACHE program charges participating ISUPS and NCI-designated Cancer Centers with combining their different areas of expertise to develop a mutually beneficial partnership. These partnerships are expected to achieve the following general objectives:

  1. Increase the participation of ISUPS in the nation’s cancer research and research training enterprise.
  2. Produce more competitive grant applications from underrepresented scientists.
  3. Increase competitive research capacity of ISUPS.
  4. Increase the role of CCs in augmenting education related to underserved populations.
  5. Develop more-effective outreach and education programs that will have an impact on underserved populations and individuals from underrepresented backgrounds.
  6. Enhance research in cancer health disparities at CCs.
  7. Identify and share innovative methods and approaches that strengthen and sustain each partnership.

The PACHE program targets cancer research, cancer education and cancer outreach. The PACHE grants support pilot and full research projects for a maximum period of three years, after which they are expected to be developed into independent projects supported by a traditional NIH/NCI peer-reviewed funding mechanisms (i.e. R01/R21/U01, etc.) or other competitive funding support.

If you are interested in more information, contact the principal investigators listed in the PACHE Project Listing.

PACHE Funding Mechanisms/Opportunities

The PACHE establishes its partnerships through two different mechanisms: the Feasibility Studies to Build Collaborative Partnerships in Cancer Research (P20 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) and the Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE) (U54 Clinical Trial Optional).

U54 Funding Opportunity
*This funding opportunity was reissued on October 5, 2023.*

The U54 mechanism develops and maintains comprehensive, long-term and mutually beneficial partnerships between ISUPSs and NCI-designated CCs. The institutions in each partnership are expected to work collaboratively to: 1) increase the cancer research and cancer research education capacity of the ISUPSs; 2) increase the number of students and investigators from underrepresented populations engaged in cancer research; 3) improve the effectiveness of CCs in developing and sustaining research programs focused on cancer health disparities; 4) increase the number of investigators and students conducting cancer health disparities research; and 5) develop and implement cancer-related activities that benefit the surrounding underserved communities.

P20 Funding Opportunity
*This funding opportunity is no longer active.*

The P20 mechanism is designed to facilitate the planning and execution of focused collaborations in cancer-related research, research experience and research education. A major goal of the NCI P20 partnership programs is to provide support for investigators at ISUPS and Cancer Centers (or other institutions with highly organized, integrated research efforts focused on cancer) to conduct cancer research and cancer research education programs. The pilot projects and education programs are planned to allow awardees to obtain preliminary data that will lead to competitive applications for funding by the NIH/NCI and/or other Federal/Non-Federal agencies.

Project Listing

Partnership & Location Principal Investigators
U54

Northern Arizona University and University of Arizona Cancer Center
Flagstaff, AZ
Tucson, AZ

Visit the partnership websites to learn more: Northern Arizona University and University of Arizona Cancer Center.

  • Jani Ingram
  • Francine C. Gachupin

Tuskegee University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Center
Tuskegee, AL
Atlanta, GA
Birmingham, AL

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Timothy Turner
  • Brian Rivers
  • Upender Manne

New Mexico State University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Las Cruces, NM
Seattle, WA

Visit the partnership websites to learn more: New Mexico State University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

  • Graciela Unguez
  • Julian Simon

Tennessee State University, Meharry Medical College, and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Nashville, TN

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Margaret Whalen
  • Samuel Adunyah
  • Tuya Pal

University of Massachusetts Boston and Dana-Farber/Harvard University Cancer Research Institute
Boston, MA

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Adan Colon-Carmona
  • Vish Viswanath

Ponce School of Medicine and Public Health and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Tampa, FL

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Harold Saavedra
  • Kenneth Wright

University of Puerto Rico Cancer Center, Medical Sciences Campus and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Houston, TX

Visit the partnership websites to learn more: University of Puerto Rico Cancer Center, Medical Sciences Campus and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

  • Brad Weiner
  • Shannon Giordano Hermes

City College of New York and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Karen Hubbard
  • Tim Alan Ahles

Northeastern Illinois University, Northwestern University, and University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Christina Ciecierski
  • Melissa Simon
  • Marian Fitzgibbon

University of Guam and University of Hawaii Cancer Center
Mangilao, Guam
Honolulu, HI

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Rachel Leon-Guerrero
  • Neal Palafox

San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center
San Diego, CA
La Jolla, CA

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Hala Madanat
  • Maria Elena Martinez

Hunter College and Temple University/Fox Chase Cancer Center
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Joel Erblich
  • Grace X. Ma

Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, University of Florida, and University of Southern California Norris CCC
Tallahassee, FL
Gainesville, FL
Los Angeles, CA

Visit the partnership website to learn more.

  • Romonia Reams
  • Diana Wilkie
  • Mariana Stern
P20

Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Southern University
 

  • Rayne Helen Rouce
  • Veronica B. Ajewole

California State University Fullerton and University of California-Irvine
 

  • Marcelo E. Tolmasky
  • Sora P. Tanjasiri

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Cherokee Nation

 

  • Mark P. Doescher
  • Sohail Imran Khan

Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University
 

  • Robert A. Winn
  • Milton O. Faison

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Hampton University
 

  • Emanuela Taioli
  • Simone Olivia Heyliger
  • Updated:
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