Nearly $4 Million Awarded for Adolescent Cancer Research

Assistant Professor Paula Cuccaro, PhD; Professor Ross Shegog, PhD; and Associate Professor Lara Savas, PhD, were awarded $3,996,163 from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to develop adolescent cancer prevention research. These awards were part of a $100 million grant to continue Texas's initiatives to build cancer research and represent the country's most significant state initiative to combat cancer.  

UTHealth Houston was awarded $8 million from CPRIT, with almost half going to School of Public Health researchers Cuccaro, Shegog, and Savas. They will serve as primary investigators on separate awards focusing on preventing human papillomavirus-related cancers. 

The National Cancer Institute estimates that HPV causes around 37,300 new cases of cancer every year, highlighting the significant need to develop vaccination programs to support prevention. 

All for Them: A multilevel strategy for HPV-related cancer prevention 

All for Them, a school-based vaccination program, works to increase HPV vaccination rates among children and teens. Cuccaro, from the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, will serve as principal investigator on the All for Them grant of $2,499,969 to continue offering immunizations for adolescents in medically underserved areas.  
All for Them partners with school districts, healthcare provider partners, and other community organizations to provide free vaccinations for young people.  

"In our participating school districts, the HPV vaccination rates we are seeing continue to improve but are still suboptimal compared to the national rates," Cuccaro said. "This project allows us to keep building on our momentum and raise awareness of the importance of HPV vaccination." With the support of the new grant, Cuccaro and her team will continue expanding their work of disseminating accurate vaccination information and providing free vaccines for Texas children. 

The program utilizes evidence-based strategies, implementing social marketing, comprehensive adolescent vaccination clinics, and school nurse training as three tiers to reduce barriers to vaccinations.  

The synergistic approaches used in this project can increase positive perceptions and acceptance of the HPV vaccine among parents, improve access to vaccination clinics, and expand school nurses’ roles in initiating vaccination conversations with parents. 

All for Them has vaccinated over 7,000 students — including providing over 5,000 doses of the HPV vaccine — and coordinated more than 300 vaccination clinics since 2017. 

Expansion of the evidence-based Adolescent Vaccination Program (AVP) in a safety net clinic system to increase HPV vaccination rates in underserved populations 

A three-year, $1,496,194 grant was awarded to Shegog and Savas from the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences to expand the Adolescent Vaccination Program (AVP) for disadvantaged communities to increase access to HPV vaccinations.  

Boosting HPV vaccination rates could enhance health outcomes in the short term, like reducing pre-cancerous cervical lesions and genital warts, as well as in the long term by averting adult-onset cancers through HPV infection prevention. 
The evidence-based program will be introduced into nonprofit safety net clinics, such as Ibn Sina Foundation and VCare clinical networks, to reach a broader range of underserved patients. Safety net clinics cater to low-income, uninsured, and underserved families, ensuring access to healthcare regardless of insurance coverage and addressing the need for adequate healthcare facilities. By implementing the AVP, the program projects to increase HPV vaccinations by at least 15% for adolescents between the ages of 9-17 at the end of three years. 

The program will enlist immunization champions, conduct provider assessment and feedback reporting, offer continued medical education with ethics credit for providers, implement patient reminder and recall systems, and educate parents to promote best vaccine practices to meet the projections. Health systems across Texas, including Texas Children's and Children's Hospital of San Antonio Primary Care, are adapting this program. 

By introducing the AVP program to safety-net clinics, Shegog, Savas, and the team can aid in increasing HPV vaccination rates to draft future programs for other health systems to model and replicate.  

"This project is significant because it will demonstrate if an innovative and successful multilevel HPV vaccination program can be effective when adapted and expanded to nonprofit safety net clinics in Texas," Shegog said.