USF awarded funding for Florida Prevention Research Center


 By ANNE DeLOTTO BALER
 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
he University of South Florida
 College (USF) of Public Health
 has received new federal fund-
ing for its successful Florida Pre-
vention Research Center to conduct
innovative public health prevention
research among populations experi-
encing health disparities.
 The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) awarded the
college's Florida Prevention Research
Center $750,000 to support research
that will promote colorectal cancer
screenings among underserved pop-
ulations initially in Hillsborough,
Pasco and Pinellas counties with
plans to later expand to other regions
of the state. The $750,000 award is for
the first year of a five-year funding
period, which will total $4.35 million
over five years.
 USF was one of 26 academic
institutions in 25 states, and the only
recipient in Florida, to obtain the
highly competitive funding.
 The CDC awarded a total of $19.5
million to the 26 prevention research
centers to work with community
partners to translate research results
into effective public health practices
and policies that avoid or counter the
risks for chronic illnesses, including
heart disease, obesity and cancer.
 With its new emphasis on col-
orectal cancer screening, the Florida
Prevention Research Center will work
with research colleagues at Moffitt
Cancer Center and state, regional
and local partners, including the
Florida Department of Health, the
American Cancer Society, and many
other community-based organi-
zations in Tampa Bay's tri-county
region.
 The national network of centers
involves communities in conducting
and disseminating research to help
ensure that effective, innovative
health strategies can be readily
shared and applied where most
needed.
 The Florida Prevention Research
Center has been continuously
funded by the CDC since it was
established in 1998. Since then the
center's faculty, staff and graduate
students have collaborated with
community coalitions to design and
evaluate social marketing-based
interventions, including helping pre-
vent smoking and underage drinking
among middle-school youth, curbing


eye injuries in citrus workers, and
getting children to be more physi-
cally active and eat better. A recent
social marketing campaign focused
on deterring hookah smoking among
USF college students.
 "We have invested millions of dol-
lars creating an innovative strategy
to teach communities how to solve
problems by making sustainable
changes that can prevent or control
chronic diseases and improve overall
health," Bryant said.
 "The continuation of funding will
help us disseminate this model with
a demonstrated return on investment
to others."
 The USF center will aim to identify
groups at high-risk for the disease
who are most likely to respond to
prevention marketing strategies with
changes in behavior and therefore
benefit from the tests that can find
colorectal polyps or cancer.


 piiiiI
 FILE PHOTO

"Our core research project will focus on colorectal
cancer screening, because it is the second leading
cause of cancer deaths among men and women in
 the United States."
 -Dr. Julie Baldwin, USF professor of community and family health


 "Our core research project will
focus on colorectal cancer screening,
because it is the second leading
cause of cancer deaths among men
and women in the United States,"
said Dr. Julie Baldwin, professor of
community and family health, who
will become the Florida Prevention
Research Center co-director with
Bryant this September as Bryant
transitions to retirement in 2016.
 "Building upon established part-
nerships, we plan to identify, tailor,
implement, and evaluate a multilevel
intervention to increase colorectal


cancer screening using communi-
ty-based prevention marketing for
systems change," Baldwin said. "We
are very fortunate to be able to draw
upon our team's expertise in social
marketing and community-based
participatory research, as well as
our experience in developing and
evaluating effective colorectal cancer
interventions."

 For more information on the
Prevention Research Centers nation-
wide, visit the CDC's Web site at www.
cdc.gov/prc.


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