Aetna U.S. Healthcare Supports Prostate Cancer Education Research at Jefferson

The Aetna Foundation and Aetna U.S. Healthcare, through its Quality Care Research Fund, has awarded $395,568 to Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) for cancer research. The grant is focused on African-American men and early detection of prostate cancer. The project will be led by Ronald E. Myers, PhD, Director of the Kimmel Cancer Center Cancer Prevention and Control Division and Head of Behavioral Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine, TJU.

According to statistics, African-American men are at greater risk of being diagnosed with and dying from prostate cancer than men in the general population. Findings from the Aetna U.S. Healthcare-funded study will lead to the development of an educational intervention that will be offered to African-American men in community-based primary care practices, and assist them in decision-making regarding their options for early detection examinations.

"The lifetime risk of developing prostate cancer and of dying from the disease is elevated by a factor of at least two among African-American men,"said Dr. Myers. "We hope that findings from our study will be used to develop effective methods for helping this at-risk portion of the population to make informed judgments about prostate cancer care."

Jefferson is one of 13 healthcare institutions across the country that are sharing $6 million in funds from Aetna U.S. Healthcare's Quality Care Research Fund, which dispersed the grants based on the following priorities: quality measurement and improvement programs that utilize population-based approaches; education to improve healthcare access and outcomes for underserved populations; and innovative treatment strategies and interventions for diseases that disproportionately affect underserved populations. (Visit our Website at http://www.tju.edu/jeffgiving/ )