UNC students' focus grant on Native American skin cancer prevention efforts

Two UNC students, junior Urvi Patel and sophomore Khizra Ahmad, recently received a $10,000 grant from Projects for Peace for their research in skin cancer prevention in Native American communities. 

Every year, Projects for Peace, a global philanthropic program, awards over 100 grants to students at universities and colleges across the nation for their work in “developing innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues,” according to the program’s website.

Patel and Ahmad serve as the President and Vice President, respectively, UNC’s Dermatology Society. Patel said through service projects hosted by the society, the pair has learned about the misconceptions many minorities had about sunscreen use. 

The experience led Patel and Ahmad to conduct an independent research study together from August to December 2024 to better understand misconceptions around sunscreen use and information about early education and skin cancer detection.  

From their work, Patel and Ahmad found that significant health disparities arose around the diagnosis of skin cancer in Native American communities, along with other ethnic groups with darker complexions. According to their research, over 33 percent of Native Americans with skin cancer didn’t receive prevention resources until the time of their diagnosis.

“While lighter-skinned individuals are usually more prone to skin cancer, when people of color are diagnosed, it's usually at later stages due to a delayed diagnosis [or] misdiagnosis, and they usually have worse outcomes,” Patel said.  

Because of this systemic issue, Patel said the research initiative aims to address persistent gaps in early detection, access to care and culturally targeted health education. To do this, Ahmad said they plan to work with summer camps and youth groups to educate individuals about life-long healthy skincare habits. 

“If you can't teach people when they're young about these kinds of issues, it's harder to learn them and identify them as you get older,” Ahmad said.

To help more effectively implement these habits into the daily lives of Native Americans, the pair approached Ryan Dial, the American Indian Health Program Manager at the UNC American Indian Center and the Southeastern American Indian Cancer Health Equity Partnership Manager at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Dial connected the pair with SAICEP. Since Patel and Ahmad are not Native American themselves, Patel said the collaboration allowed them to build on pre-existing relationships within the community.

“I think that's really important in public health in general, to utilize infrastructure and programs that already exist,” Dial said. 

Patel said initiatives like her and Khizra's project help to bridge gaps in education and encourage people to become advocates for their health. Dial said that in addition to educational materials, the group will be using the Projects for Peace grant to purchase lip balm, sun screen and visors. 

In the future, Patel said she'd like to expand the project to include sunscreen dispensers across the state. 

By providing free items, the group hopes to remove financial obstacles to care while educating people about the importance of preventative skincare methods. Dial said the goal is to meet people where they are, both physically and culturally. By combining this effort with pre-existing trusted community engagement, the project aims to avoid duplicating existing efforts and instead strengthening them through collaboration.

“There's a lot of work that needs to be done when it comes to public health and in American Indian communities, and so there's not a lot of time for redundant efforts and reinventing the wheel,” Dial said. 

@dailytarheel | university@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article listed Khizra Ahmad as a co-founder of the UNC Dermatology Society. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error.