About Us
The Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) meaningfully engages the community in UNC Lineberger’s research, clinical care, and programmatic and policy efforts to better understand and serve the population’s needs. Infusing community perspectives helps ensure Lineberger’s efforts are timely, relevant, and responsive to cancer patients and caregivers, community providers and public health practitioners, policy makers, and the public at large.
Community and Collaboration
COE helps Lineberger researchers infuse the community’s perspective across the research lifespan in several ways. The office monitors cancer burden data and identifies differences throughout North Carolina, informing the direction and priorities of the center’s research. Using its robust relational database, COE connects researchers to each other and to community partners and patient advocates across the state to foster meaningful collaborations.
Expertise and Outreach
The office supports UNC Lineberger’s Community Advisory Board and its Patient Advocates for Research Council, which can advise on program development, review materials, train and educate researchers, review grant applications, and represent the community and patient voice on committees.
Our staff team has a broad range of expertise and can advise on topics such as health literacy, best practices in engaging patients and community organizations, and cultural sensitivity in working with populations disproportionately affected by cancer.
Other resources supported by the COE office include our community pilot funding program and the UNC Lineberger Cancer Network, which delivers oncology-related educational and outreach programs to healthcare practitioners, trainees, researchers and the public.
Our Mission
Our Vision
Goals and Guiding Principles
Our Goals
Analyze and disseminate cancer burden and disparities information. The COE systematically monitors cancer incidence, mortality, risk factors, and disparities across NC and disseminates actionable data to LCCC members, community partners, and policymakers to guide research and improve outcomes.
Strengthen bidirectional community engagement. COE builds and sustains partnerships that enhance cancer prevention, early detection, care, and research by: coordinating activities internally and externally; engaging community members, patients, and advocates in cancer center programs; and supporting oncology workforce development and quality initiatives aligned with community needs.
Accelerate research translation to community impact: COE facilitates dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions; integrates community perspectives into research; and promotes research participation reflective of catchment area demographics to reduce the cancer burden.Guiding Principles
Compassionate: We see, hear, understand, value, and appreciate every person.
Collaborative: We build trusted relationships and foster transparent, bidirectional communication. 
Accountable: We serve communities, researchers, partners, and one another with responsiveness and integrity. 
Purpose driven: We keep the people we serve at the heart of everything we do.