Hayley Thompson, PhD, an associate professor of Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and leader of the Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, has received a $99,984 award from the DMC Foundation to expand the Detroit HealthLink for Equity in Cancer Care to the Arab-American community in Dearborn.



Dr. Thompson earlier this year received funding for the Detroit HealthLink project, which focuses on the overall population in Wayne County. The two-year, community engagement funding award for $247,233 was funded through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Eugene Washington Engagement Award.



Dearborn is the second largest city in Wayne County, which is the second unhealthiest county in Michigan, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. The crisis in health is particularly evident in cancer surveillance statistics. The county’s rates of cancer incidence, late-stage diagnoses and cancer deaths are the highest in Michigan. Arab Americans, one of the largest groups, comprise about 5 percent of Wayne County’s population and 30 percent of Dearborn.



Wayne State University School of Medicine and Karmanos will administer the Detroit HealthLink for Equity in Cancer Care project to the Arab American population to build public interest, involvement and investment in patient-centered cancer research and to build community capacity to engage in cancer research. The Detroit HealthLink project ultimately strives to reduce rates of cancer incidence, late-stage diagnoses and cancer deaths in minority populations in Detroit and within Wayne County by identifying specific needs in those populations.



The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services is the primary partner in the initiative.