LCRC Summer Undergraduate Cancer Research Experience (SUCRE) Fellows perform valuable research under the guidance of faculty mentors.  Case in point:  2024 Fellow Randy Hamilton worked for mentor Dr. Qingzhao Yu, professor at LSU School of Public Health and LCRC faculty member, to research environmental risk factors and racial disparities in prostate cancer diagnoses.  

Randy is included as a co-author in a paper recently published in Current Oncology submitted by Dr. Yu and a team of researchers from the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU School of Public Health and the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative, an LCRC program.  

The study investigated factors that may explain why Black men in Louisiana are at higher risk of being diagnosed with more advanced prostate cancer compared to white men.  "We identified important mediators that might explain the racial disparity in prostate cancer," Dr. Yu said.  "Randy helped with literature review, descriptive data analysis, and mediation analysis. He learned those technologies and applied them to this project."

The study found that both individual factors, like body mass index, marital status, health insurance, and environmental factors, such as exposure to air pollution, proximity to railroads, and asthma rates, are factors. Harmful air pollutants like acetaldehyde and general air toxicity were among the key environmental contributors.  The findings highlight the importance of addressing exposure to environmental hazards and improving healthcare access to reduce the differences in diagnosis stage between Black and White men.

To learn more about the Louisiana Cancer Research Center's Summer Undergraduate Cancer Research Experience (SUCRE), click here.

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