How Public Health and Community Engagement Drives Cancer Prevention and Care at LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center
Public health is a powerful — but often misunderstood — part of cancer care. “Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of populations,” explains Dr. Donna Williams, Associate Dean of Practice and Community Engagement, LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health and Director of Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control.
Where medicine focuses on the individual, public health focuses on populations. Take the case of a pregnant woman, for instance. A physician will advise them to eat foods or take vitamins high in folic acid to prevent spina bifida. “A public health practitioner would work to ensure that folic acid-rich foods are widely available and accessible,” says Dr. Williams.
Public health is a critical pillar of cancer research at LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center. From prevention through treatment, public health guides how we reach, support, and care for our communities.
The Crucial Role of Public Health in Cancer Prevention and Treatment
Up to half of all cancers are preventable. And even for those that aren’t completely preventable, early detection can lead to better outcomes.
“Studies have found that prevention and early detection are our most effective weapons in preventing deaths from cancer,” says Dr. Williams.
One of the key roles of public health professionals is to make services in prevention and early detection as widely available as possible. This is especially important for people who are most at risk.
For example, men are more likely to have smoked cigarettes in their lifetime than women. Public health professionals might focus on reaching men for smoking cessation and lung cancer screening services.
Other factors that contribute to preventable cancers include alcohol use, lack of physical activity, being overweight or obese, infections (such as hepatitis and human papillomavirus), and environmental pollution.
In public health, information is key. Data about populations provide a snapshot of where more cancers are diagnosed or diagnosed at later stages. But this alone doesn’t often help researchers understand exactly why the rates are higher.
“It’s only through engagement with the community that we come to understand the issues standing in the way of accessing care,” explains Dr. Williams. “We need to understand, for example, when people don’t know when or how to get services, when office hours are only during work hours, or when there is a lack of trust in the existing systems. Only through engaging can we learn these things.”
Public Health and Patient Care: Complementary Forces That Work Together
Public health and patient care are different, but they rely on each other to improve patient care. Public health is about communities and populations, while patient care focuses on the individual.
According to Dr. Williams, “In public health, we’ll focus on access to mammography for women 50 and over, the group most likely to get breast cancer, and actively work to get these women screened rather than waiting for an individual woman to come in for services.”
But preventive care and primary care go hand in hand. “Most preventive care occurs within the context of primary care, for example,” says Dr. Williams. “We can’t prevent everything, and eventually most people will need a medical intervention. But public health approaches will slow the development of chronic diseases and help us catch them and intervene early in order to improve health outcomes.”
Meeting People Where They Are: Community Engagement in Action
A primary goal of public health is to connect with communities. Public health researchers engage directly with communities to understand how they think, act, and live.
LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center has made it a priority to make these connections as easy and natural as possible. “We have an internet presence that includes a web page and social media. We often have webinars or face-to-face meetings or listening sessions to discuss emerging issues,” says Dr. Williams.
These resources provide information across the care continuum, from basic education and resources on prevention through follow-up care, treatment, and survivorship.
“Whenever possible, we like to include caregivers and family and to consider all aspects of life that would make it easier for everyone to access care,” explains Dr. Willliams. For instance, a person’s transportation might involve family and other caregivers.
“We value everyone’s input and expertise as well as their time. Our intent going forward would be to demonstrate this through compensation,” she says. They’re also planning other opportunities for involvement, such as citizen science — when the community performs research to answer their questions with technical support from our faculty.
“We want to make sure that the cancer center is engaged in research that is responsive to community needs.”
A Path to Excellence: Community Engagement and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designation
NCI-designated cancer centers must meet the highest standards for cancer research focused on preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer.
“Community outreach and engagement have been fundamental and required parts of being an NCI-designated cancer center for over 50 years and is expected to span all aspects of our programs,” says Dr. Williams.
According to the NCI, cancer centers — alongside community partners — should “identify community needs, communicate those needs across the Center’s leadership and research programs, and catalyze activities of special relevance to the Cancer Center’s geography catchment area population.”
“In other words, community outreach and engagement will be critical and contribute to every aspect of the work we do from the beginning to the end — that is, what research we do, how we do it, and what we do with those results,” explains Dr. Williams.
New Initiatives Reflecting a Public Health Focus
Public health research is designed to make real changes in cancer research and treatment — ones that directly impact the lives of community members.
“One example is our focus on navigation, particularly for people living in rural areas. Many people don’t even know where to start when it comes to cancer screening. They might not know what tests they should be getting, where to get them, how to access systems, or even who takes their insurance,” says Dr. Williams.
LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center has developed a system where anyone anywhere in Louisiana can reach out, share a minimal amount of information, and get connected with a nurse who will help them through the process. Patients can even choose the mode of communication that works best for them — email, text messaging, or phone call.
“In the future, we envision working on what’s called a ‘one health’ approach, where we can work across sectors to help people integrate opportunities for wellness into all aspects of their lives,” says Dr. Williams. “For example, a trip for a pet to the vet can be an opportunity for a smoker to discuss the risks of secondhand smoke on pets and a referral to smoking cessation services.”
The opportunities to reach community members are endless. Each touchpoint provides a moment to connect people with preventive and diagnostic services that can save lives.
Public Health: The Heart of Cancer Care
Public health isn’t a buzzword — it’s the foundation of everything we do. From prevention and education to early detection and access to care, it’s how we reach people before cancer does.
As LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center continues on our path toward NCI designation, we’re not just meeting benchmarks — we’re building deeper relationships with the communities we serve.
Better cancer care starts at a neighborhood health fair, a church basement, a local screening event — where trust is built, health differences are addressed, and lives are changed. Because when public health thrives, our communities do too.