Sylvia D. Stroup Scholar of Nutrition and Cancer and Associate Professor of Food Science & Human Nutrition, Zeynep Madak-Erdogan (CGD/EIRH/GSP) will lead a new “Voices of Cancer” project to address cancer disparities through storytelling, research, and community engagement. Madak-Erdogan is also the Associate Director for Education at the Cancer Center at Illinois. The Chancellor’s Office awarded Madak-Erdogan’s team with a $75,000 award for the 2025-2026 funding cycle. In 2020, Chancellor Jones initiated the Chancellor’s Research Program, a strategic investment in research programs that examine society’s grand challenges. For the 2025-2026 year, the research program focus areas include:

• Systemic interventions to improve educational outcomes and increase college readiness.
• Research that tackles the complex drivers of health disparities.
• Structural disparities in the criminal justice system.
• Challenges faced by sexual and gender minorities in education, health and the criminal justice system.

Operating within the Chancellor’s Research Program Societal Impact funding track, the “Voices of Cancer” team aims to transform cancer research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by increasing historically excluded groups’ representation and identifying barriers to patient-centered research. The “Voices of Cancer” team will respond to documented cancer outcome disparities among underserved populations in central Illinois. Madak-Erdogan’s team includes CCIL Postdoctoral Scholar Craig Richard and Azlan Guttenberg Smith from College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

Building on 50+ interviews with cancer survivors, families, healthcare providers, and researchers, the “Voices of Cancer” project will create a verbatim theater script documenting cancer treatment experience and highlighting structural disparities. Through partnerships with the CCIL’s Cancer Research Advocacy Group (CRAG), Prairie Dragon Paddlers, and Carle-Mills Breast Cancer Institute, Madak-Erdogan’s team plans to reach 500 community members through live performances and other stakeholders through digital distribution. The team will then host post-performance discussions and surveys to measure impact on understanding of cancer disparities.