How Surviving Cancer Shaped The Perspective of Community Advisory Board Member Deisy Cañón Lovera

Deisy Cañón Lovera manages the Southern Minnesota region for Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment Through Research (HACER) in Mankato, Minnesota. Since 2023, she has served on the Center for Clinical and Translational Science Community Advisory Board (CAB) for Midwest Rural Health Research. Over the years, she and fellow CAB members have advised dozens of study teams on research and education initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of rural residents in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. As a community member and cancer survivor, Cañón Lovera contributes a distinctive perspective to her role on the CAB.

What inspired you to join the Midwest Rural Health Research Community Advisory Board?

I am a triple-negative breast cancer survivor, and I received all my treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Mankato. During my treatment, I shared with my oncologist my desire to start a project focused on cancer. Two years later, while working at HACER, I began developing a breast cancer awareness program specifically for  Hispanic-Latino women in Southern Minnesota.

During one of my follow-up oncology appointments, I told my oncologist that I had found a grant opportunity to support early detection of breast cancer. He encouraged me to apply—and I was awarded the grant. He also introduced me to this rural health community advisory board. I decided to join, hoping to offer feedback and ideas to support understudied communities in rural areas of Minnesota.

What effect do you hope your work will have on research and your communities?

I am able to help researchers and people in rural communities understand each other. It's important to recognize that different people know the world in different ways. Those differences are valid and must be respected in research if you want to improve healthcare.

Share an example of when the CAB helped improve a research project.

One of the projects was about teaching people with diabetes to eat healthily. When a community's culture is closely tied to risk increasing food, it's hard to offer someone a diet that changes the way they have been eating their whole life. We advised the researchers to think about how to address this problem differently for people from different backgrounds.

Are there other ways you have been involved in research?

Including community voices in every stage of research is essential. I actively participate in several Community-Engaged Research initiatives, including Community Scientist on a project focused on pain management. The goal of this project is to test a validated, collaborative care model designed to improve pain control among rural and Spanish-speaking cancer survivors. Additionally, I serve as a Cancer Advocate, helping to share information on reducing the risk of cancer in the community.

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