Thanks to the financial support of USC’s Center for Health Equity in the America I had the pleasure of attending the first-ever “Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos” conference in San Antonio, Texas from February 21st to 23rd, 2018. The focus of this conference was to increase multidisciplinary collaboration to tackle Latino cancer health disparities on many fronts from bench to bedside to overcome barriers to care and address the unique needs of Latinos as it relates to cancer. In addition to attending several sessions I was able to do a poster presentation on a research project that I am working on, the abstract was titled “Understanding a culturally tailored narrative to increase cervical cancer detection among Spanish speaking Mexican American women”.
As a first-year doctorate student, I felt that attending this conference was a great venue for me professionally and academically. The opportunity to share findings from this culturally tailored intervention and meet leaders in the field of cancer health disparities was an excellent platform to establish myself and gain new insight into possible research interest. Because this is a major professional conference I benefited from meeting and being inspired by other graduate students, junior faculty and senior scholars as well.
With the support of this travel award scholarship I was able to attend the entirety of the conference program. The scientific sessions that I found most helpful were the opening session on what is the science of cancer in Latinos, Session 1 particularly on why disaggregation matters among Latinos, Concurrent Session A – cancer risk, prevention and screening, Concurrent Panel F – Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship in Latinos, and Session 4 – Emerging Policies in U.S. Health Care. These sessions expanded not only my knowledge but my methodological and theoretical toolkits as well. I enjoyed being exposed to new perspectives on cancer health disparities science and the latest techniques which will all benefit me in creating new research ideas for myself. Lastly, the closing remarks provided me with an overview of existing health disparities research among Latinos and implications for future researchers.
Furthermore, the opportunity to talk to other cancer health disparities researcher at various stages in their careers was an invaluable experience that will undoubtedly shape the future of my PhD study. By attending this conference, I was able to connect with a couple of graduate students that share similar research interest and who come from sufficiently different intellectual backgrounds (e.g., graduate programs) than myself. Connections such as these can be important for me to foster collegial friendships, learn new things from them and vice-versa, and with whom I can hopefully collaborate in the near future. My interaction with junior faculty and senior scholars also provided me with contact for future collaboration, mentorship, and job opportunities.
In essence, this travel award allowed me to receive new knowledge, learn about exciting new research, and expand my professional network. Attending the conference highlighted the importance of my work and the role I play in alleviating cancer health disparities. I also enjoyed making connections with new people, especially people whose papers I have read or who work at institutions I might be interested in working at in the future, and catching up with collaborators.
