|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
EDINBURG — The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was awarded over $18 million in grant money to help fund the research efforts at the RGV Center for Cancer Health Disparities.
The $18.4 million was awarded by the National Institutes of Health to help the center address health disparities prevalent in the Valley.
The award was announced Thursday morning at the UTRGV School of Medicine where local officials including U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, and a representative from the office of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz gathered for the ceremony.
Subhash Chauhan, director of the South Texas Center of Excellence in Cancer Research at the UTRGV School of Medicine, said the grant will allow them to understand the more common types of cancer.
“In the Rio Grande Valley we have disparities in certain cancers like liver cancer, cervical cancer … these are the highest in the nation and probably highest in the world,” Chauhan said.
According to the National Library of Medicine, the incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer is about 55% higher in the Valley compared to the average rates in the U.S.
He explained that the goal of the research projects at the center is to understand the diseases at a molecular and sociobehavioral level.
The grant will be used to fund three research projects — cervical cancer, liver cancer and gallbladder cancer — as well as in other areas.
For Chauhan, the funding marks a pivotal component in their efforts to help advance cancer prevention and treatment in the Valley.
“These projects will find out some of the molecular pathways and some of the social behavioral factors that are influencing these cancers,” Chauhan said. “If we understand that we will be able to develop a strategy so that we can lower them and reduce this disparity.”
Although Chauhan and his team have already begun their research he believes the cancer center will only accelerate that process.
“By establishing the Rio Grande Valley Center for Cancer Health Disparity, we are creating a vital biomedical research infrastructure that will serve our region,” Chauhan said in a news release. “It also will provide crucial insights for NIH and the broader public on cancer disparities that affect the Hispanic population.”
The center is expected to open sometime in 2025, according to university officials.
