It’s extraordinarily difficult to transfer cancer research findings from one country to others across the globe. Each country has different populations, cultures and environments, research approaches, and regulatory systems. And, when it comes to one of the worst cancer-causing agents, they often have drastically different types of tobacco products.
For example, snus, a finely cut oral tobacco product used in Sweden, appears to have minimal harmful health effects when compared to other oral tobacco products. This is most likely due to its relatively low levels of cancer-causing chemicals. But what are the opportunities for reducing the cancer risk of drastically different oral tobacco products popular in India, a country with more than one-third of the world’s oral cancer cases? It would take systematic research and robust, coordinated prevention practices and policies to make that happen, but such actions could save millions of lives.
To make global research more effective and methodologically consistent and to move the dial on worldwide cancer deaths, Irina Stepanov, Mayo Professor in the School of Public Health, has launched an initiative called the Institute for Global Cancer Prevention Research. What’s more she has secured initial funding to support her vision from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Medical School, and Masonic Cancer Center.
The Institute for Global Cancer Prevention Research will focus on growing partnerships and research capacity, and the translation of research findings into prevention practices and policies. Following Stepanov’s commitment to conducting such work in populations that bear the disproportionate burden of cancer, the institute will target its efforts towards low- and middle-income countries, as well as immigrant communities locally.
