The cumulative personal, functional, and cosmetic burdens of skin cancer are compounded by massive health care expenditures (1,2). Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) treatment in the Medicare population ...alone amounts to $426 million annually (3), and malignant melanoma, or melanoma skin cancer (MSC) has been estimated to cost approx $1 billion annually (4). Although these estimates are based on different populations and disease categories, they provide a measure of the vast direct and indirect costs of skin cancer screening, biopsy, and treatment. Despite this heavy toll, skin cancer remains a relatively underexplored area of chemoprevention research, perhaps illustrating the medical paradox that “rare conditions are intensively studied, while common conditions are often overlooked” (2).
Texas's size and unique population demographics present challenges to addressing the state's cancer burden. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is one of 69 National Cancer ...Institute-designated cancer centers across the United States. While these centers traditionally have focused on research, education and training, and providing research-driven patient care, they are in a unique position to collaboratively advance population health through cancer control. Unlike the traditional academic model of a three-legged stool representing research, education, and patient care, MD Anderson's mission includes a fourth leg that incorporates population health approaches. MD Anderson has leveraged state- and national-level data and freely available resources to develop population-health priorities and a set of evidence-based actions across policy, public and professional education, and community-based clinical service domains to address these priorities. Population health approaches complement dissemination and implementation research and treatment, and will be increasingly needed to address the growing cancer burden in Texas and the nation.
