Michelle Martin, PhD, came to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) to make a difference in health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities diagnosed with cancer. As the director of UTHSC’s new Center for Innovation in Health Equity Research: A Community Cancer Alliance for Transformative Change, she plans to partner with local grassroots efforts to help make that happen.

Martin said, the center, housed in the Department of Preventive Medicine in the College of Medicine at UTHSC, aims to “reduce the cancer burden across the continuum,” including detection, diagnosis, and treatment, and will also focus on prevention. Resources from the UTHSC partnership with West Cancer Center and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare will support the growth of the center. It joins other centers recently launched by the UTHSC College of Medicine to address the most-pressing health needs of the community.

Martin plans to work with cancer survivors, caregivers, providers and organizations in the Memphis area to determine areas of research that would best benefit cancer patients in the community, and to coordinate efforts already underway.