Abstract A001: Community outreach and engagement internship: Fostering student engagement for lasting community impact

Abstract The National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Center Support Grant requires designated comprehensive cancer centers to include a Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) component aimed to reduce cancer burdens in their defined catchment area. The COE component at Georgetown Lombardi’s Comprehensive Cancer Center is charged to build capacity for their academic health centers and community-based organizations in order to collaborate in research, program delivery, evaluation and dissemination. Building capacity and sustaining these efforts requires experiential training programs for students and early career trainees with an interest in cancer research. We outline the structure and outcomes of a six-week COE internship offered at the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention at Georgetown Lombardi’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.The COE internship is designed to integrate and align interns with the organization’s mission of strengthening community engagement. Social and economic inequities continue to drive disproportionate cancer incidence, late-stage diagnoses, and mortality, emphasizing the need to address cancer disparities. By grounding the internship curriculum in practical modules, such as patient navigation, educational material development, and community-based outreach, interns engage in activities essential for health disparities research. These include building trust with underserved populations, supporting clinical research recruitment, and tailoring communication strategies for diverse backgrounds. We established our Community Outreach and Engagement Internship and initiated a call for applications in the summer of 2023. Since inception, over 100 applications have been received from students all across the U.S., and a total of 25 interns have successfully completed the structured six-week experiential learning program. Of these, 64% were undergraduate students, with the remainder consisting of graduate and postgraduate students. The majority of the interns identified as White (60%), while 20% self-identified as Hispanic/Latino. 28% of students were affiliated with Georgetown University, while the remaining students represented a diverse set of institutions throughout the U.S.Interns reported meaningful growth in five competency areas: 45% in communication, health education, and dissemination; 40% in patient navigation and administrative experience; 35% in community health and disparities awareness; 35% in professional/soft skills; and 30% in research, critical thinking, and analytical abilities. Among those who completed the internship, 20% were subsequently accepted into medical school. Overall, findings suggest that the program advances student competencies in public health and health equity, subsequently serving as a valuable model for professional development and institutional capacity building. This evaluation contributes to the growing literature on experiential training models preparing future community-engaged health professionals. Citation Format: Aisha Choudhri, Lucile Adams-Campbell, Mary Mills, Mireille Bright, Jennifer Hicks, Jefferny Lin, Chiranjeev Dash. Community outreach and engagement internship: Fostering student engagement for lasting community impact [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 18th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities; 2025 Sep 18-21; Baltimore, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2025;34(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A001.