Bianca Islam, MD, PhD, faces no small task as an Ambassador for the American Cancer Society's (ACS) Voices of BLACK Women Project. Her job is to help encourage 100,000 Black women, aged 25-55 who've never had a cancer diagnosis, to participate in a 30-year, multi-phase, longitudinal study with no immediate results or compensation for participants.
But the Case CCC Trainee Associate Member didn't seem the least bit phased about her role during an interview this week with Fox 8's Jazmin Bailey.
"The aim of this new study is to collect data that will help us understand the multi-level drivers of incidence, mortality, and resilience of cancer and other health conditions among Black women in the United States," Islam explained. "Once the medical community is armed with this information, physicians and physician-scientists can understand better how to address the issues."
The Voices of BLACK Women Project is the largest cohort study of cancer risk and outcomes among Black women in the U.S. It focuses on the lived experiences of Black women. Participation involves completing an online health and life history survey at enrollment and updating information twice a year for at least 30 years. Topics such as mental health, stress, education, income, caregiving, and racism are covered in the questions.
ACS is looking for at least 3,000 participants from Ohio who:
- are assigned female at birth or identify as a woman,
- identify as black,
- do not have a history of cancer (except basal or squamous skin cancer), and
- are between the ages of 25 and 55 years.
Admissions are rolling until the goal numbers are reached or exceeded. If you or anyone you know fits the criteria and might be interested, enroll at voices.cancer.org.