GO2 for Lung Cancer to Receive a $250,000 Engagement Award to Build Capacity for Patient Engagement in Research Within a Stigmatized Lung Cancer Community

San Carlos, CA and Washington, DC – Today GO2 for Lung Cancer (GO2) announced its Chief Healthcare Delivery Officer, Dr. Joelle Fathi, DNP RN, ARNP, CTTS, FAANP, FAAN and Dr. Jamie Ostroff, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have been approved for a $250,000 award through the Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award Program, an initiative of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The funds will support the project “Building Capacity and Patient Engagement Within a Stigmatized Lung Cancer Community.”

This capacity-building project will aim to establish a diverse coalition of lung cancer survivors and caregivers to develop research priorities focused on improving equitable health outcomes in this stigmatized community. The work will leverage key partnerships to learn how to increase patient engagement for patient-centered outcomes research through community building, training, support, infrastructure, and improved processes.

“Marginalized populations, who experience increased health disparities and inequities, are more commonly impacted by lifelong cigarette smoking and related stigma, placing them at higher risk for lung cancer and worse health outcomes,” Fathi said.  “This award supports work that is critical to building capacity and engagement of the stigmatized lung cancer community, to partner with them in understanding their experiences, and address disparities in screening, evidence-based care, survival, and engagement in research.”

Drs. Fathi and Ostroff are joined by an esteemed project team, including James Pantelas, University of Michigan, a patient advocate, lung cancer survivor and veteran, GO2 Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Jennifer King, PhD and Dr. Jamie Studts, PhD, University of Colorado Cancer Center.

This mixed methods project will build on previous PCORI awardees’ research and contributions to the field. Dr. Chris Slatore, Oregon Health and Science University; the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System and the following previous awardees will comprise the project’s Engagement Advisory Board.

  • Dr. Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Hutchinson Institute Cancer Outcomes Research
  • Gretchen McCreary, COPD Foundation, The COPD Patient-Powered Research Network
  • Dr. Angela Smith, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bladder Cancer Action Network

“Building Capacity and Patient Engagement Within a Stigmatized Lung Cancer Community” is part of a portfolio of projects that PCORI has funded to help develop a community of patients and other stakeholders equipped to participate as partners in comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) and disseminate PCORI-funded study results. Through the Engagement Award Program, PCORI is creating an expansive network of individuals, communities, and organizations interested in and able to participate in, share, and use patient-centered CER.

This project was selected through a highly competitive review process in which applications were assessed for their ability to meet PCORI’s engagement goals and objectives, as well as program criteria. This project will build a community equipped to participate as partners in patient-centered CER. We look forward to working with GO2 for Lung Cancer throughout the course of their two-year project,” said Greg Martin, PCORI’s Chief of Engagement, Dissemination and Implementation.

PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research to provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence needed to make better-informed health and healthcare decisions. PCORI is committed to seeking input from a broad range of stakeholders to guide its work. For more information about PCORI’s funding to support engagement efforts visit http://www.pcori.org/content/eugene-washington-pcori-engagement-awards/.