UTH

Project CASCADE

Community and Academic Synergy for Cancer Survivorship Care Delivery Enhancement

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Meet Project CASCADE

Enhancing Cancer Survivorship Care in the Lone Star State

Project CASCADE is a quality improvement project to help community health centers care for their patients with a history of cancer. This work is supported by the National Cancer Institute and led by a team of researchers from UTHealth Houston and the University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Contact Us

Why it’s needed

Most people with a history of cancer live with additional chronic conditions, which requires coordination between multiple types of medical providers. Based on our team’s previous work, we know that there is suboptimal communication between primary care and oncology, which leads to worse health outcomes for patients with a history of cancer. (1)

Project CASCADE stands for Community and Academic Synergy for Cancer Survivorship Care Delivery Enhancement. By collaborating with community health centers, we will implement a tailored, clinic-specific intervention that aims to increase screening for second primary cancers.

The facts:

  • Cascade-fact-1.jpg The US has over 18 million cancer survivors, with an estimated increase to 22 million by 2030 (1)
  • Cascade-fact-2.jpgUnder- and uninsured cancer survivors experience disproportionately worse health outcomes and rely on community health centers for health care.
  • Cascade-fact-3.jpgPrimary care teams experience challenges in delivering high-quality survivorship care for under- and uninsured cancer survivors.
  • Cascade-fact-4.jpg30.2% of cancer survivors in Texas are uninsured (2)

Our Community Primary Care Partners

Get to know the community partners working with our team to enhance care for their patients that have a history of cancer

  1. Parkland Health & Hospital System
  2. Atascosa Health Center
  3. South Texas Rural Health Services
  4. Community Action Corporation of South Texas
  5. Su Clinica 
Outline of Texas with key cities highlited with a star

How it works

1

Implement the intervention

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Working alongside the teams at our partnering community primary care clinics, we will implement the cancer survivorship care intervention known as Project CASCADE.

2

Test its effectiveness

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After its implementation, we will test the effectiveness of Project CASCADE using a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized trial design.

3

Evaluate the outcomes

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To evaluate the implementation of Project CASCADE, we will use an iterative, concurrent mixed-methods approach guided by the Practice Change Model.

Meet the team working to bring Project CASCADE to life

Principal Investigators

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Bijal Balasubramanian, PhD

UTHealth Houston

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Simon Craddock Lee, PhD

University of Kansas Cancer Center

Co-Investigators

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Aubree Shay, PhD

UTHealth Houston

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Suja Rajan, PhD

UTHealth Houston

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Samiran Ghosh, PhD

UTHealth Houston

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Derek Craig, PhD

UTHealth Houston

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Rebecca Eary, DO

UT Southwestern

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Hilary Ma, MD

MD Anderson

External Advisory Committee

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Roxana Cruz, MD

Community Health System Advisor

Texas Association of Community Health Centers

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Benjamin Crabtree, PhD

Scientific Advisor

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

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Shelley Fuld Nasso, MPP

Patient Advocacy & Policy Advisor

National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

Research Staff

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Lauren Malthaner, PhD

Research Scientist
UTHealth Houston

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Carolina Salmeron, MPH

Research Coordinator
UTHealth Houston

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Meryl Millett, MPH

Research Coordinator
UTHealth Houston

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William Ochieng

Doctoral GRA
UTHealth Houston

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Rhiana Abbas

Biostatistician
UTHealth Houston

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Alexa Poole

Quality Improvement Advisor
UTHealth Houston

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Isabelle Ginavan, MPH

Qualitative Research Associate
University of Kansas Cancer Center

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Katie McCallister

Program Manager
UTHealth Houston

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Anita Rosas

Research Coordinator
UTHealth Houston

Want to get in touch with Project CASCADE?

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