Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program Receives More Than $3 Million from CDC

LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center program has screened more than 118,000 women and detected nearly 1,900 cancers since 2002

August 12, 2026

NEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program (LBCHP), a program of the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center and housed at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, has received more than $3 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand access to breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnostic services and patient navigation across Louisiana. 

Donna Williams, MPH, Dr.PH, Associate Dean of Public Health for LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health and Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement for the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center, leads the program. 

Funded for the fifth consecutive year, the grant will strengthen Louisiana’s coordinated approach to preventing cancer and detecting it earlier and more treatable stages.
Since its establishment in 2002, the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program has:

• Screened more than 118,000 women
• Diagnosed 1,648 breast cancers
• Diagnosed 249 cervical cancers
• Provided 44,497 patient navigation encounters 

“This funding allows us to build on more than two decades of progress and reach more women, particularly those in rural communities and those who have rarely or never been screened,” said Carleigh Baudoin, Assistant Director, Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Controls Program. “We have already increased the number of uninsured women served by 18% and exceeded our pre-Covid service level. Our focus now is ensuring that even more women can receive lifesaving screenings and timely follow-up care.”

Through the program, eligible women receive no-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings, diagnostic services and patient navigation. Women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, or certain precancerous conditions, may also qualify for no-cost healthcare coverage through Louisiana’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Medicaid program.

Patient navigators help women overcome challenges that can prevent or delay screening and follow-up care. These barriers can include cost or lack of insurance, transportation, language, limited appointment availability, health literacy, cultural concerns and fear of a possible diagnosis.

Housed within the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, LBCHP is the largest initiative within Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs. It is also the nation’s only CDC-funded National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program based at an academic institution.

As a program of the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center, LBCHP’s statewide reach supports the Cancer Center’s work to address Louisiana’s cancer burden and pursue National Cancer Institute designation. The program uses statewide cancer data to identify areas of need, expand access to evidence-based screening and connect women with timely diagnostic and treatment services.

“Preventing cancer and finding it earlier are essential to changing cancer outcomes in Louisiana,” said Dr. Lucio Miele, Director of the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center. “The Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program demonstrates the statewide reach, measurable impact and commitment to the communities we serve that are central to our pursuit of National Cancer Institute designation.”

In addition to funding direct screening and diagnostic services, the CDC award supports partnerships with health systems and community organizations to increase screening throughout Louisiana. These efforts include implementing proven screening practices in healthcare settings, connecting women with available services and strengthening systems that support timely screening and follow-up care.

About the Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program
The Louisiana Breast and Cervical Health Program, part of Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, provides eligible women with no-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings, diagnostic services and patient navigation. Women diagnosed through the program may qualify for no-cost treatment through Louisiana’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Medicaid program. To learn more about eligibility or locate screening services, visit louisianacancer.org or call 1-888-599-1073

About the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center
LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center has reimagined, reinvented, strengthened, and modernized how Louisianians tackle a cancer diagnosis and more importantly, how they can prevent it. Home to more than 100 cancer researchers, the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center’s research programs through the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Research Center of Excellence directly benefit the Louisiana community by conducting focused research necessary to better prevent cancer, detect it earlier when it can be more effectively treated, and to develop the new cancer therapies of tomorrow.  Through funding and critical partnerships such as those with LSU, LCMC Health, Tulane University, and Louisiana Cancer Research Center, LSU LCMC Health Center brings together cancer care and research in Louisiana to focus on the specific challenges the state faces to reduce the inordinate cancer burden. 

About LSU Health New Orleans
LSU Health New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's health sciences university leader, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with campuses in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty takes care of patients in hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous annual economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment and cure disease.