To mark the first year of our Community Advisory Board (CAB), we held a short Q&A with our co-chairs, Artemio Castro and Steve Sunderland, about their paths to this work, how cancer has touched their lives, and what they hope to accomplish with the CAB.

Artemio Castro CAB Research Chair Reach Out Lakota

Steve Sunderland CAB Outreach Chair Coalition for Health Justice

Tell us about yourself and what drew you to support cancer work.

Artemio: I am originally from Puerto Rico, where I graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico.  I worked in Research and Development at Procter & Gamble for 35 years and retired as Vice President of R&D in 2021.  Both my wife (breast cancer) and I (prostate cancer) are cancer survivors, so we got to live with all the uncertainty and anxiety that this disease causes.  We were both fortunate to have our cancers detected early and are now relatively healthy.  This made us understand the importance of early detection when it relates to survivorship.  After retirement, I became a Board member for a Food and Clothing Pantry in West Chester called Reach Out Lakota.  Here, we saw the opportunity to provide early screening for Breast Cancer, which we have conducted twice in partnership with UC Health.

Steve: I came to Cincinnati as a UC college dean. Near retirement, cancer affected my family. While searching for the best options, we encountered confusion and conflicting opinions. In that process, I found the work of Dr. Harold Freeman, a cancer surgeon in New York who pioneered “patient navigation” to guide people through treatment decisions and the cancer experience. When I called him, he said his model existed nationwide except in Cincinnati. I invited him here to speak with hospital administrators and health officials about why navigation mattered. Dr. Electra Paskett from The Ohio State University’s James Cancer Center also presented. Both emphasized that navigators are essential so patients better understand cancer and their choices.

Local hospitals declined to start a program, so we launched one ourselves. For the past nine years, we have run the only community-based navigation program in Cincinnati, focused first on cancer and now expanded to other diseases. Navigators work in churches and community centers across the city, prioritizing neighborhoods with the greatest life-expectancy gaps.

This effort builds on my long civil-rights and education background: work addressing gaps between rich and poor and between African Americans and non-African Americans; service as a dean at a New York City college centered on human services; and earlier as a CUNY vice president helping more minorities access higher education. When cancer touched my family, the question became not just where care existed for us, but where it existed for everyone, especially those uninsured or underserved. That has guided my focus ever since.

How did you get involved with the Cancer Center and the CAB? Why were you interested in being co-chair?

Artemio: Given my interest in serving the cancer community, I approached Melinda and shared my interest in getting involved.  I felt that my background in research and my experience with cancer could help drive programs to serve the community, particularly in the areas of early detection and cancer research.  Melinda invited me to be part of the advisory board in early 2024.

Steve:  I see the CAB as a pioneering way to bring the community into true partnership with the Cancer Center, not only to pursue cures but to help people live and cope with cancer. I was impressed by your team’s commitment to a community-rooted approach and a strong bridge to the Cancer Center. I wanted to help build a forum where community members have a real voice, where their ideas and concerns about access and quality of care are heard, and where the Center responds in ways that close life-expectancy gaps. I am honored to help advance this effort.

I also wanted to bring my full commitment and experience. Through my work with the Cancer Justice Network and the Coalition for Health Justice, there are many opportunities to align with the CAB so the community has a stronger voice. I believe I can represent that voice well, which is why I agreed to serve as co-chair.

How is CAB involvement shaping your current work and interests?

Artemio: The CAB is very important to me since I see a clear connection in the work the CAB is doing and my desire to help the community.  As a CAB member, I have been able to evaluate research proposals and help in the creation of events that drive cancer awareness and early detection screening tools to help identify cancer at the early stages. 

Steve: Being part of the CAB has expanded my vision of what is possible. The Cancer Center’s welcome for the Community Advisory Board is meaningful and, in my view, could be a model for the future of cancer care. Within the Cancer Justice Network, we want to bring physicians, nurses and researchers into our work and expand the role of navigators so they are not only aware of what happens at the Cancer Center but true partners in it. We are operating in a difficult moment, politically, economically and spiritually, but my commitment, and my organization’s, is full. We look forward to staying connected to, and advancing, the CAB’s future work.

What aspect(s) of cancer research interest you the most, and what area would you like to change?

Artemio: Clinical research, and raising awareness about it, is very important to me. To develop better treatments faster, we need more people to participate in trials. The best opportunity is reaching patients as they prepare for treatment and helping them understand that new options are being studied that may help them now and benefit the community later. As a CAB member, my goal is to make information about clinical research clear and accessible so people see the benefits, ask questions, and consider taking part in studies that could lead to new therapies.

What initiatives stand out from this past year, and what’s ahead?

Artemio: The first year of the CAB was to establish the foundation of what we wanted to do and how to organize ourselves to help us meet our long term goals, including a charter. The team is now launching education sessions starting with prostate cancer awareness in September and providing feedback to Cancer Center teams on community engagement and communication.

Steve: Building the CAB’s membership has been meaningful. Seeing who is at the table, and sharing with our communities that this is a real, workable organization, has been energizing. While the upcoming prostate cancer film is important, we have not yet selected a signature project. We have discussed priorities, but we are still identifying the program that feels most relevant and worthy of our collective effort. I look forward to that taking shape over the coming year.

What do you want the community to know?

Artemio: As a CAB Co-Chair, I would like the community to know that the Cancer Center is here to help them with early detection and care for their cancer journey. The CAB is here to help communicate in a patient friendly way the available options for treatment in addition to the importance of screening for early detection.  We are creating and participating in forums to drive awareness of these programs.

Steve: Patient navigation needs to be far more visible in the community. Just this morning, a board member told me he was scheduled for a prostate biopsy and no one from the hospital had called to explain the procedure, how to prepare, or who would meet him when he arrived. “Where’s my navigator?” he asked. Nine years on, communication for patients facing frightening procedures still hasn’t improved in some settings. Navigation should be present at the front end. It builds trust in health care, treatment, and research by giving people a clear guide and a reliable relationship.

A top priority for me is getting that message out. Through stronger outreach and marketing, the CAB can tell our community: you are welcome at the Cancer Center, and you will not be left on your own. We will connect with you in ways that are truly helpful, through a navigation system or a parallel structure that meets your needs. Ultimately, I want navigation to make our community more confident in the Cancer Center and the care it provides.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Steve: I see the CAB as a pioneering step toward 21st-century cancer care. Recognizing the community as a full partner is a major contribution to health care and health justice, and we need community members working alongside cancer specialists. Our board is open-minded and open-hearted, fully invested and never a rubber stamp.