Associate Director for Community Outreach & Engagement

The Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCC) at UCSD Health is embarking on a new trajectory to leverage its significant research and clinical strength located within an environment that values innovation and collaboration. We intend to re-envision how we prevent, detect, and treat cancer to improve the lives of cancer patients and the communities we serve. With a robust commitment from UCSD executive leadership, attractive resources across the MCCC/UCSD, an exciting San Diego biotech environment, and a new Cancer Center Director leading a dynamic senior leadership team, we seek a visionary Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement to fill a key leadership role as we launch the next era of impact by the Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Role of the Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement (AD-COE)
The role for the Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) is to:
1) Provide leadership, direction and oversight to enhance existing services and develop novel programs to reduce the cancer burden in the catchment area (CA) and increase engagement of the MCCC with the communities it serves
2) Develop and promote an enhanced vision for community outreach and engagement in alignment with CA cancer burden, community needs, and NCI expectations for the COE component of the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG)
3) Further buttress the extant research on cancer disparities conducted by MCCC members and extend its reach into the communities served by the MCCC
4) Undertake and evaluate activities to increase participation of underrepresented minorities in all cancer clinical trials, with a focus on interventional trials
5) Promote increased access to cancer education, preventive, and screening information and services, and cancer care for all MCCC catchment residents
6) Implement and evaluate the impact of interventions to improve catchment area residents’ health status by reducing cancer disparities in cancer risk factors, incidence, mortality and late-stage cancer diagnosis unique to the population served by MCCC
7) Collaborate with community partners, local and state legislators and insurers to advocate for more comprehensive and effective policies to address the cancer-related health care needs of the catchment area.

Responsibilities
• Oversee the MCCC Office of Community Outreach and Engagement to continuously engage the CA population to improve cancer education, screening, access to care and involvement in MCCC cancer research, with particular emphasis on increasing MCCC member participation in research and clinical trials (interventional and non-interventional) focused on the high priority cancers and concerns of the CA
• Use a data-driven, community engaged approach to continually monitor the MCCC CA. Characterize its demographics and concomitant cancer disparities in risk factors, incidence, mortality, access and/or late-stage diagnosis. Ensure regular updating with available data, supplemented by bidirectional engagement of the CA, i.e. community health needs surveys.
• Use these data to develop and evaluate targeted programs and interventions to address the MCCC CA cancer burden, with a special emphasis on communities where cancer disparities are most pronounced.
• Develop, update, and oversee the MCCC Community Advisory Board (CAB), ensuring its diverse representation aligned with catchment area demographics and needs. Foster robust bidirectional communication between the CAB, MCCC members, and the MCCC Director.
• Identify, provide, oversee, and evaluate multiple avenues for bidirectional engagement, such as research program COE liaisons and community ambassadors.
• In partnership with MCCC Senior and Program Leaders, foster collaborative research across all MCCC research programs, as appropriate, focused on reducing the cancer burden in the CA.
• Participate in Cancer Center Senior Leadership meetings and strategic planning to communicate the cancer burden and community-identified needs to broaden COE’s impact across the MCCC.
• Collaborate with the ADs for CRTEC and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) to expand the pipeline of diverse, underrepresented minority local high school and undergraduate students who are encouraged to pursue a career in oncology. Collaborate with them to develop partnerships with HBCUs and MSIs, with particular emphasis on expanding opportunities for SDSU students.
• Identify faculty across the UCSD and SDSU campuses who are working in areas relevant to the catchment area cancer burden and facilitate enhanced capacity on community engaged research and engagement.
• Ensure promotion, accurate information, and opportunities for MCCC members and community to engage in advocacy for policies at the local, state and national level to improve cancer screening, health care access and decrease cancer incidence and mortality rates in the CA.

Metrics of success for the AD for COE might include:
• Development of a COE plan for the CCSG and its integration with the core components of CRTEC and EDI
• Evidence of impact of MCCC research program COE liaisons and input of CAB members – i.e. new research directions focused on disparities, more patient-friendly policies and procedures related to research protocols
• Increased uptake by CA population of cancer prevention strategies such as mammography, colorectal and lung cancer screening, HPV vaccination
• Measurable baseline and increase in enrollment of underrepresented minorities into MCCC interventional trials
• Successful participation by faculty in advocacy at the local and state level for improved cancer screening, early detection or risk reduction interventions to benefit the CA
• Development of new community partnerships (and collaborations with other NCI CCs in California) to promote cancer risk reduction and increased access to cancer preventive and medical care for the CA.

Position Requirements
• The Associate Director must be a fulltime faculty member with an MD and/or PhD at the Associate or full Professor level.
• Must have demonstrated research expertise in racial/ethnic and/or socioeconomic health disparities, preferably by serving as principal investigator of peer reviewed extramural research from the National Cancer Institute or National Institutes of Health or other peer reviewed cancer funding organization.
• Expert capacity to engage communities in cancer health equity discussion, addressing issues with cultural and linguistic competence, and demonstrated ability to build consensus and collaborate across diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
• Demonstrated expertise and documented track record of developing and evaluating successful programs in community-engaged cancer outreach to underrepresented populations. Examples include demonstrated expertise via grants, publications, and national recognition.
• Demonstrated experience in advocacy initiatives, development of community engagement strategies, and volunteer management.

Preferred Experience & Skills
• Previous COE-related experience at an NCI-designated comprehensive Cancer Center
• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate and build trust with the diverse catchment area community and CAB, composed of underrepresented minorities, immigrants, as well as vulnerable and low SES populations
• Demonstrated effective collaboration skills with internal and external partners including sponsors, state and local health agencies, community and state leaders, and minority-serving organizations
• Experience building, maintaining, and managing collaborative partnerships and interdisciplinary teams in both an academic environment and underserved communities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and mentor faculty, trainees and staff.
• Experience with developing and evaluating health disparity related funding mechanisms (local, state, federal, foundation, non-profit).
• A strong understanding of community based participatory research (CBPR).
• Excellent written, verbal and management skills.
• Ability to develop and execute an outreach and health disparities strategic plan in a collaborative environment, based upon the ongoing assessment of the current and future needs of the MCCC catchment area and the MCCC strategic plan.
• Experience working with development and philanthropic donors.

Funding
This important senior leadership position will be funded for 20% effort by the NCI Cancer Center Support Grant.

To apply, submit cover letter, CV, and NIH biosketch via https://ucsd.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2tx6m10B3uPzyho.

For questions, contact Mark Garcia – [email protected]

To apply, submit cover letter, CV, and NIH biosketch via https://ucsd.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2tx6m10B3uPzyho.

For questions, contact Mark Garcia – [email protected]