The Cancer Prevention and Control Program conducts the majority of cancer research
for the University of South Carolina with the aim of reducing the burden of cancer
across all communities in our state.
The Cancer Prevention and Control Program was founded in 2003 to investigate and begin
to alleviate the stark health disparities present in South Carolina, especially those
resulting in higher cancer incidence and mortality rates in the African-American community
in our state. Virtually all of the University of South Carolina's epidemiologic cancer
research is conducted here at the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, and much
of our work focuses on modifiable risk factors, such as diet and exercise. We strongly believe
that community members, both here in Columbia and across the state, should be engaged
with our researchers as equal partners, so that those individuals and communities
most profoundly affected by cancer are engaged in work that will directly affect their
lives. We are committed to integrating service, education and research in engaging
the community to further our mission of reducing the burden of cancer in our state.
Recent graduates from the Arnold School of Public Health’s doctoral program in epidemiology
Drs. Nitin Shivappa and Michael Wirth , working through Connecting Health Innovations LLC (CHI), were recently awarded a
$1.8-million Small Business Innovation Research Grant by the National Institute of
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The grant supports work on developing
the Dietary Inflammation Index , which has been used extensively in research, for clinical applications. The research
team includes CHI and USC members Brie Turner-McGrievy, Julia Houston , Thomas Hurley, Trisha Mandes and James Hébert .
