Molecular Therapeutics Outreach Initiatives

Community Outreach

To successfully conduct and deliver patient-centered treatment and research, it is necessary to have broad outreach into the community. This form of collaboration not only takes important new findings to the community, but also elicits input from the community. Karmanos physicians are actively involved in patient education through a variety of outlets. These include:

• Speaking engagements at local organizations for individuals diagnosed with cancer to educate patients and family members on advances in a variety of cancers with specific emphasis on the emergence of therapies based on molecular characteristics of the cancer
• Participation in media-organized forums such as web based ‘chats’ that educate the community on cancer screening and prevention  
• Developed the Karmanos Prostate Cancer Advocacy Program (PCAP), a comprehensive team of providers dedicated to the prevention and cure of prostate cancer by embracing the patient and family perspective
• Within PCAP, a prostate cancer education program was developed to specifically reach African-Americans in the Detroit community
• Involvement in community-based support programs for pediatric cancer patients. 

Physician Outreach

An additional important component of community outreach involves physician education. Karmanos, and our physicians, regularly participates in a variety of educational opportunities.

• Annual conferences regarding updates for breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, thoracic oncology and others are offered through Karmanos
• Participation in the yearly Board Review Symposium organized by the Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology  
• Collaboration with community physicians by providing information on available clinical trials at Karmanos, thus providing patients access to novel investigational agents when other treatment options have failed