Fashionable fundraiser fosters cancer research

  Courtesy of Steve I. Bae Chi Alpha Delta members (from
left) Audrey Chon, Kimey Ung,
Nikki Kodama and Annie
Chang pose with MC Sam Louie at the first
annual fashion show to raise money for cancer awareness.

By Marjorie Hernandez
Daily Bruin Reporter According to the National Center for Health
Statistics, cancer death rates for Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders have increased more than 200 percent between 1980 and
1993. Yet, AAPI subgroups historically have received the least
attention, study and treatment from the U.S. government. “A
lot of people have the misconception that Asians aren’t at
risk of developing cancer, but in actuality that’s
false,” said UCLA Asian American Network for Cancer
Awareness, Research and Training project director Koy Parada.
“It’s the leading cause for Asian American females and
the second cause of death for males.” But a group of UCLA
community members hoped to change that on Sunday. More than 300
alumni, community leaders and members of the Asian Greek Counsel
came together at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles to celebrate Chi
Alpha Delta sorority’s first annual “Timeless Fashion
Show” to raise awareness of the growing dangers of cancer
among the Asian American/Pacific Islander population. Funded by the
National Cancer Institute Special Populations’ Network, the
AANCART grant is the first national effort to develop programs and
clinical studies targeting specific sites in New York, Seattle, San
Francisco and Los Angeles. The five-year grant awarded last year
will earmark more than $7 million among the consortiums, and will
provide more than $1 million for UCLA research and community
outreach. Funds raised by UCLA’s Chi Alpha Delta fashion show
will go to scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students
interested in internships with AANCART. “We were looking for
something that can incorporate students, community leaders and our
alumni and we felt that a fashion show was just a really great way
to do that,” said fourth-year mechanical engineering student
and Chi Alpha Delta president Nikki Kodama. While lung, colorectal,
breast and prostate cancers rate as top cancer killers of the
general American population, liver and stomach cancers remain the
third and fourth highest causes of death among the AAPI community
respectively, according to the AANCART Web site. Southeast Asians
also have an 18 percent higher rate of lung cancer occurrence than
whites, according to AANCART. Variances such as this in cancer
types only warrant more research specific to Asian Americans.

Gaps in research Researchers historically lump various AAPI
groups into one category, thus overlooking the disparity that
exists among the ethnic subgroups, said Roshan Bastani, associate
professor at the UCLA School of Public Health and associate
director of the division of cancer prevention and control. For
example, the highest rates of liver cancer has been found in
Vietnamese men, while Japanese men have a very high risk in
developing prostate cancer, Bastani said. Although breast and
cervical cancer rates are about 25 percent lower in Asian and
Pacific Islander countries, studies have shown that cancer rates in
Asian American and Pacific Islander women come close to the rates
of white women within 10 years of living in the U.S. According to a
study conducted by UCLA School of Public Health’s Department
of Community Health Sciences assistant professor Marjorie
Kagawa-Singer, cancer rates among Japanese Americans are three
times higher than the rate for the newer Korean American immigrant
group. Established generations of AAPI subgroups like Japanese
Americans have cancer rates close to the general population.
Environment and diet changes maybe the cause of these rates,
Kagawa-Singer said. “The more Westernized the diet becomes,
the more Westernized the patterns of cancer,” she said.

Model minority misconceptions The image of Asian Americans as
the model minority often sweeps the rising problem of cancer under
the rug. “AAPIs are not seen as needy communities compared to
the Hispanic or African American communities,” Bastani said.
“Popular media doesn’t pick up on that.”
“You don’t see that in the movies, you don’t see
it in the magazines,” she continued. “And I think that
builds the perception that everything is OK.” But some
subgroups of AAPI, especially new immigrants, often struggle with
language barriers and lack of information concerning the importance
of routine screening and don’t seek help. According to
Kagawa-Singer’s study, AAPI women have the lowest screening
and early detection rates for cervical and breast cancer compared
to all ethnic groups. The study also showed that 21 percent of AAPI
women have never had a Pap test compared to 5 percent of white
women. “Screening in Asian countries is not as
prevalent,” Kagawa-Singer said. “When women come here,
they aren’t as familiar with the availability and the need to
be more vigilant with cancer here in the U.S.” Many AAPI
women, including recent immigrants, have never had Pap smears in
their native countries due to lack of advocation and standard care,
according to Parada. But the dangers of avoiding screening become
clear, as cervical cancer continues to be the leading cause of
death in Vietnamese women. “It’s a very intimate
situation that a woman would share with her spouse and not a
doctor,” said Parada. “Coming here in the US and
undergoing such an invasive personal procedure is such a huge
barrier.” Another problem stems from the lack of awareness of
the variety of AAPI subgroups found throughout the nation.
“If you look at the east coast, which is where most of the
funding comes from, most of the differences there are black and
white, rather than in Los Angeles County where it’s more
diverse,” Parada said. “I don’t think funders on
the east coast realize how diverse of a population the Asian ethnic
groups are.” Low Asian American participation rates in
clinical studies also attribute to the lack of comprehensive cancer
studies. AANCART interns are sent to community sites in order to
assess and investigate the participation barriers community members
might face. Money raised by Chi Alpha Delta’s fashion show
will go to fund scholarships for such future interns. “I
think it’s wonderful that Chi Alpha Delta chose AANCART as
their philanthropy for this particular year because it does affect
all different Asian ethnic subgroups,” Parada said.
“Increasing and targeting awareness of cancer in the college
population is also very important.” AANCART affiliates hope
to continue collecting pilot data that will launch further grant
research into the effects, causes and control of cancer among
AAPIs. Investigators, interns and community leaders will also
target health care providers with the importance of advocating
screening. AANCART participants hope these partnerships will
highlight the growing problem of AAPIs and cancer throughout the
country. “It is high time that all communities that make up
L.A. participate in research and benefit from it, and we feel good
that the research is extending to the Asian and Pacific Islander
populations,” Bastani said.