“Identifying as Latin American and being a part of a program that specifically is trying to solve cancer health disparities, I think that’s very powerful,” shared California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) undergraduate student Gloria Castañón. “Being the first in my family to pursue a postdoctoral degree in STEM, I would not have had this opportunity without this program. I definitely have a lot of support from Dr. Griffin, and I’m very thankful to be a part of something that I’m interested in and I’m able to identify with. I think that makes it extra special, being a part of this.”
Two Orange County universities have partnered to explore cancer disparities in the area, and for Castañón and University of California, Irvine’s Dr. Shawn Griffin, the program has provided a chance to conduct research they feel passionately about.
The Cancer Health Equity Research Partnership (CHERP) program, an NCI P20 funded collaboration between the UC Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC) and CSUF, connects students from the CSU campus with UCI faculty and researchers. CHERP was established “to fund pilot research projects involving investigators from each institution while training under-represented minority (URM) undergraduates and graduate students on cancer disparities research,” according to the program’s website. The program was made possible with a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the support of the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC) and CSUF. Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH of UCI and Marcelo Tolmasky, PhD of CSUF serve as Principal Investigators (PI’s) for the program.
Through CHERP, Dr. Griffin, health sciences assistant clinical professor of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice, was matched with Castañón, a Cancer Research Education Program (CREP) Scholar within the CHERP program. Castañón is a biology student at CSUF with a passion for disparity research. Together, Dr. Griffin and Castañón have been studying potential health disparities in Hispanic patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Castañón learned of the CHERP program through a flier and completed an application that expressed her interest in cancer research, particularly involving minority populations. She also had to complete additional coursework that would prepare her for the program.
Meanwhile, a request was sent out, gauging interest among Cancer Center members who may want to work with student researchers. Dr. Griffin saw an opportunity to bring in a student via CHERP to assist with an ongoing project.
“Prior to my joining UCI, a team of researchers led by oncology pharmacist Benjamin Lee published a retrospective analysis describing an increased incidence of pegaspargase-induced hypertriglyceridemia and associated pancreatitis in Hispanic adults receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” he explained. “When I joined UCI, Ben and I took this one step further and analyzed all of our outcomes in patients with ALL. We found, just looking at our outcomes, that there was a potential disparity where Hispanic patients that received pegaspargase-based regimens did worse, which is unexpected.”
Griffin and Lee submitted an abstract on this research to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Griffin made a presentation at the organization’s annual meeting in Chicago in June. Currently, the team is in the process of publishing a manuscript on their findings.
As the project progressed, news about the CHERP program came at the perfect time. Dr. Griffin was in need of someone to assist with data collection, reading medical records, and other tasks to help determine if a difference in treatment-related toxicity among Hispanic patients was a cause of this potential disparity. He entered the program and chose Castañón — who had expressed her interest in similar research — from a list of potential student mentees.
The CHERP program has exceeded the expectations of both Dr. Griffin and Castañón.
Castañón’s participation in the CHERP program and work with Dr. Griffin opened her eyes to the opportunities that a career in pharmacy could afford.
“I was like, ‘You don’t work at CVS!’” Castañón laughed. “I think that was the first thing I said to him. It opened my eyes to what field I could be in. Even without seeing people like me in this field, I think being a part of this program has shown me that I am able to do these things. I’m just grateful for this opportunity.”
Her goals have changed significantly in her time as a CHERP participant. She’s now considering applying to PharmD programs after she graduates from CSUF, a possible next step that wasn’t on her radar before.
“I was always passionate about helping the Hispanic community. I knew that was something I wanted to do professionally, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to do that within the medical field or pharmacy. Going through this experience, I was like ‘wait a minute, I can do my passion in pharmacy.’ I see a way that I can help my community and show more representation. So, it made me rethink some things, but in a good way,” Castañón said.
For Dr. Griffin, Castañón’s assistance has been invaluable to the successful progression of the project. Additionally, the experience has informed his investigations of teaching styles and strategies to bolster the success of underrepresented minorities in STEM learning, an initiative he has taken on through his work with The Institute for Meaningful Engagement (TIME). A long-term goal of CHERP is “to enhance the pipeline of URM students trained in disparities research into the cancer workforce.”
“One of the strongest evidence-based ways to increase persistence and success of underrepresented undergraduate students in STEM is actually involving them in research early and consistently throughout their undergraduate career. It is one of the strategies that has the strongest evidence behind it in terms of helping underrepresented minorities ultimately be successful within a STEM career. So, certainly, that’s an area that, beyond just the CHERP program, I would like to continue to participate in and foster over the long term,” Dr. Griffin stated. “It is students like Gloria who will become future clinicians and researchers in Orange County, and I am honored to have played a very small part in that.”
