Project IMPACT (Influencing Media and Public Agenda on Cancer and Tobacco Disparities) aims to build capacity of community-based organizations in Lawrence, Massachusetts to work with the local media, with an overall goal of changing the way that the media covers issues of health inequities. Based on successful media workshops conducted as part of the MassCONECT (Massachusetts Community Networks to Eliminate Cancer Disparities through Education, Research and Training) study in 2007, Project IMPACT will offer a media training program for community-based organizations through a series of workshops and a toolkit for journalists.

Click to Connect: Improving Health Literacy through Internet Literacy is a randomized controlled trial. Its aim is to see how participants recruited from adult literacy centers search for and comprehend health information once they have a computer and high-speed Internet access.

MassCONECT stands for Massachusetts Community Networks to Eliminate Cancer Disparities through Education, Research and Training. It is one of the National Cancer Institute's Community Networks Programs and focuses its activity on three urban Massachusetts communities; Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester. Our primary goals are to develop and increase the capacity of these cities by supporting community-based education, research, and training to reduce cancer and other health disparities.

The Cancer Control P.L.A.N.E.T. (the P.L.A.N.E.T.) is a web-based resource for program planners looking for evidence-based cancer-control interventions. MassCONECT is a successful, established, community-based participatory research project, managed by the Viswanath Lab. The aim of PLANET MassCONECT is to link the vast resources of the P.L.A.N.E.T. to the existing, localized infrastructure of MassCONECT.

LAMPS stands for Linking Assessment and Measurement to Performance in PHEP Systems. The primary objective of this multidisciplinary study is to assess and validate public health emergency preparedness (PHEP) measures in the United States, and to create a performance measure center based at Harvard University.

Through WITS (Well-Informed, Thriving and Surviving), we are exploring the different factors that drive cancer patients and survivors to seek information. We also hope to determine if there is a connection between disparities in cancer survival rates and information-seeking habits.

Dr. Viswanath is on the steering committee for TReND (the Tobacco Disparities Research Network). Trandisciplinary by design, TReND includes researchers from a variety of disciplines, who aim to stimulate new studies, address gaps in tobacco disparity research, and disseminate best practices. Through TReND, the Viswanath Lab has worked on several projects related to tobacco disparities and media exposure.

Dr. Viswanath is the director of the ECHO (Enhancing Communications for Health Outcomes) Lab. This cutting-edge facility allows researchers to conduct formative testing and research on messages to be used with a wide range of populations. Researchers in the Viswanath Lab conducted usability tests for the American Legacy Foundation's "Become an Ex" smoking cessation campaign.

Tobacco-related diseases are a growing issue in developing countries, and India, with its estimated 250 million smokers, could face an enormous burden in coming years. This study, a randomized controlled trial, will be conducted in the Indian state of Bihar, a region with high rates of tobacco use.