Washington, D.C., is home to a large sexual minority and gender nonconforming population, with approximately 9–11 percent of residents identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ). D.C. has the second highest proportion of transgender-identified residents of any U.S. state (2.3 percent). LGBTQ communities represent a considerable proportion of D.C.’s population, yet a dearth of information exists to adequately describe the health conditions and healthcare experiences of D.C.’s LGBTQ residents. Building the Foundation for Community-Led Research to Eliminate LGBTQ Cancer Disparities is a PCORI Pipeline to Proposal (P2P) project that seeks to build capacity for community-engaged research that will help fill this gap with a specific emphasis on addressing LGBTQ needs along the cancer care continuum.

During Tier I, we successfully established a Community Advisory Board (CAB) and made progress toward our overarching goal of developing a comparative effectiveness research (CER) project by hosting two community conversations to determine research interests among a subpopulation of the LGBTQ community. In Tier II, we aim to do the following:

1. Conduct four additional community conversations to gather information about LGBTQ cancer-related health needs and research interests.  
2. Implement our recruitment plan to expand our community–academic partnership and grow the current CAB, and provide additional engagement opportunities for patients in particular.
3. Prioritize the community’s top health needs and research interests for which a CER study can be developed to address known cancer disparities impacting the LGBTQ community.
4. Develop a research question that will guide the development of our CER proposal in Tier III.

View Tier I Award