Community Outreach and Engagement

Dartmouth Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in New Hampshire and Vermont (our 'catchment area').

We are responsible for understanding and addressing the unique cancer needs and challenges experienced in our community. Our researchers play a central role in ensuring we serve our community well by:

  • Aligning research foci to study cancer-related issues impacting our catchment area.
  • Engaging community members in shaping our research priorities and influencing how we conduct research.
  • Translating, implementing, and disseminating research and evidence.

If you are a Dartmouth Cancer Center research program member and have recently conducted or been involved with community-focused activities, please share them on our Community Outreach and Engagement form.

Please refer to the following sections on this page to learn more:

Our catchment area's cancer burden

Our catchment area bears a disproportionately high cancer burden relative to the United States, reflected by a statistically higher overall cancer incidence rate. Our high overall cancer incidence is driven, in part, by the following high-incidence cancers:

  • Bladder cancer
  • Brain and other nervous system cancers
  • Breast cancer
  • Endometrial (uterine) cancer
  • Esophageal cancer
  • Lung and bronchial cancer
  • Melanoma
  • Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Oral and pharyngeal cancers 1

Though our catchment area’s overall cancer mortality rate is comparable to that of the United States, site-specific mortality is elevated for brain and other nervous system cancers, endometrial (uterine) cancer, esophageal cancer, and melanoma. 2

Cancer incidence and Mortality in DCC Catchment Area

The burden associated with these high incidence and mortality rates in our catchment area are further compounded by the fact that the region is largely rural—with 51% of our population living in rural areas (see map below). This context adds additional challenges associated with rurality, including:

  • Greater exposure to established cancer risk factors such as tobacco and environmental hazards 3, 4
  • Lower uptake of age- and sex- recommended cancer screenings 5, 6, 7, 8
  • Considerable financial and transportation constraints that result in skipped or delayed care by survivors needing oncology services 9
DCC six main clinical sites map NH and VT

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Catchment-focused cancers

Every five years, DCC reviews epidemiologic data about our catchment area. In collaboration with our Community Advisory Board, Executive Council, and scientific advisors, we then designate cancers that warrant concentrated research, education, and outreach efforts. In 2026, the following cancers were designated as our ‘catchment-focused cancers’: 

  • Bladder cancer
  • Breast cancer
  • Colorectal cancer
  • Lung cancer
  • Melanoma

In addition, prostate cancer has been named an ‘emerging cancer of interest’ to highlight its growing relevance in our catchment area and to encourage investigators to establish activities with this focus.

We invite you to learn more about our catchment area by exploring data sources and our latest research highlights.

Contact us

To contact the COE team, please email DCC.Community.Outreach@dartmouth.edu. To reach specific team members, please visit our team member page.

Citations

  1. United States Cancer Statistics - Incidence: 1999 - 2022, WONDER Online Database. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Cancer Institute; 2024 submission; 2025 release. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cancer-v2022.html on May 14, 2026.
  2. United States Cancer Statistics - Mortality: 1999 - 2023, WONDER Online Database. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2025. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cancermort-v2022_SR.html on May 14, 2026.
  3. Khan, S. M., Pearson, D. D., Eldridge, E. L., Morais, T. A., Ahanonu, M. I., Ryan, M. C., ... & Goodarzi, A. A. (2024). Rural communities experience higher radon exposure versus urban areas, potentially due to drilled groundwater well annuli acting as unintended radon gas migration conduits. Scientific reports, 14(1), 3640.
  4. Dona, A. C., Jewett, P. I., Henning-Smith, C., Ahmed, R. L., Wei, M. L., Lazovich, D., & Vogel, R. I. (2024). Rural–urban differences in sun exposure and protection behaviors in the United States. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 33(4), 608-615.
  5. Locklar, L. R., & Do, D. P. (2022). Rural‐urban differences in HPV testing for cervical cancer screening. The Journal of Rural Health, 38(2), 409-415.
  6. Shete, S., Deng, Y., Shannon, J., Faseru, B., Middleton, D., Iachan, R., ... & Paskett, E. D. (2021). Differences in breast and colorectal cancer screening adherence among women residing in urban and rural communities in the United States. JAMA network open, 4(10), e2128000.doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28000
  7. Sepassi, A., Li, M., A. Zell, J., Chan, A., Saunders, I. M., & Mukamel, D. B. (2024). Rural-urban disparities in colorectal cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship care: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The oncologist, 29(4), e431-e446.
  8. Benavidez, G. A., Sedani, A. E., Felder, T. M., Asare, M., & Rogers, C. R. (2024). Rural-urban disparities and trends in cancer screening: an analysis of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data (2018-2022). JNCI Cancer Spectrum, 8(6), pkae113.
  9. American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. (2026). New ACS CAN Survey Finds More than Half of Cancer Patients and Survivors in Rural Communities Report Difficulty Affording Cancer Care. Retrieved from FightCancer.org