In the United States, colorectal cancer is the third leading cancer diagnosis in both men and women, accounting for eight percent of new cancer diagnoses. One in 22 men and 1 in 24 women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetime. Overall, it is the second leading cause of cancer death.

Many research studies have demonstrated that screening for colorectal cancer is enormously impactful: screening is estimated to account for a 50 percent reduction in cancer cases and deaths over the past several decades. Colorectal cancer is the only cancer for which screening is recommended for all men and women and has been shown to prevent cancer mortality. However, only two-thirds of the U.S. population is up to date with colorectal cancer screening.

In the Liang Lab, we aim to understand and address the following health disparities in colorectal cancer screening, incidence, and mortality:

• In the United States, Asians have among the lowest colorectal cancer screening uptake of any racial or ethnic group.
• Black people have the highest colorectal cancer incidence and mortality.
• Colorectal cancer incidence and mortality is higher among people who are poor, less educated, and live in rural areas.

Our team leads a range of projects to support these aims with the goal of improving screening practices and increasing screening access.

Funded Research Projects

Below is a description of our currently funded projects. We thank the funders for making our work possible!

Longitudinal Adherence to Colorectal Cancer Screening in the Veterans Health Administration

The major goals of this project are to measure long-term longitudinal adherence to colorectal cancer screening in the Veterans Health Administration; to understand facilitators and barriers to repeat colorectal cancer screening; and to pilot a text messaging intervention to increase adherence to screening and surveillance colonoscopy.

Funding Agency: National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute
Lead: Peter S. Liang, MD, MPH

Assessing the Effect of Offering a Blood-Based Colorectal Cancer Screening Test on Screening Adherence and Colonoscopy Completion in Patients Who Have Refused Colonoscopy and Fecal Immunochemical Testing

The goal of this project is to assess colorectal cancer screening rates using a Septin9 blood test in veterans who have refused colonoscopy and fecal immunochemical testing (FIT).

Funding Agency: Epigenomics; American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy/New York Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
Lead: Anika Zaman, MPH

Assessing Trends and Predictors of Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Chinese and Indian Americans in New York City

The goal of this project is to assess colonoscopy screening rates and predictors of screening among Chinese and Indian Americans in New York City using the NYC Community Health Survey.

Funding Agency: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities; NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health
Lead: Peter S. Liang, MD, MPH

Early Onset Colorectal Cancer Risk

The goal of this project is to compare risk factors in patients at NYU Langone who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer before age 50 to patients who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer after age 50 and controls without colorectal cancer.

Funding Agency: ReMission Foundation
Lead: Valerie Gausman, MD

Colorectal Cancer Screening at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue

The goal of this project is to examine potential disparities in colorectal cancer screening at Bellevue, a large, ethnically and linguistically diverse, urban safety-net hospital in New York City.

Funding Agency: ReMission Foundation
Lead: Katherine Ni, MD