Community Outreach and Engagement

Community Outreach

At the GW Cancer Center, community outreach and engagement (COE) focuses on closing the gap in cancer outcomes. We support research aimed at understanding and addressing disparities, deliver education and prevention programs, connect people with screening, treatment, and clinical trial opportunities, and work to influence public policies that lessen the impact of cancer.

Our current catchment area includes 12 counties/municipalities across southern Maryland and northern Virginia, as well as all eight DC wards. COE’s goal is to support the GW Cancer Center’s impact on the catchment area through six strategic aims:

  • Identify and monitor the cancer burden within our catchment area, especially for underserved populations.
  • Develop sustainable partnerships between GW Cancer Center’s research programs and the diverse communities we serve so that research findings are put into practice.
  • Partner with community-based organizations focused on cancer risk reduction, early detection, and survivorship to promote cancer health equity and increase quality of life throughout our region.
  • Collaborate with DC Health and congressional leaders to influence local and federal policies to reduce the cancer burden across the GW Cancer Center’s catchment area.
  • Increase participation in the GW Cancer Center’s clinical trials by overcoming barriers to care and ensuring a representative (race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and age) pool of research subjects.
  • Invest in and build an infrastructure that supports community outreach and engagement.

 

The GW Catchment Area includes:

  • District of Columbia
    • Wards 1-8
       
  • Counties
    • Montgomery
    • Prince George's
    • Charles
    • Fairfax
    • Loudoun
    • Prince William
       
  • Municipalities
    • Alexandria
    • Fairfax
    • Arlington
    • Falls Church
    • Manassas
    • Manassas Park
The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded.

Most of the GW Cancer Center’s patients are residents of DC, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties (Maryland). The most commonly diagnosed cancers are breast, prostate, lung, and head and neck.

The Community Outreach and Engagement Team

  • Sherrie Flynt Wallington, PhD
    Associate Director, Community Outreach Engagement and Equity
  • Shayla Scarlett, MBA, MPA, DipACLM
    Assistant Director, Community Outreach Engagement and Equity
  • Claudia J. Campos Galván, MA, LGPC, TTS
    Cancer Center Administrator/Community Health Worker Lead
  • Hannah Safron
    Cancer Center Associate, Community Health