MCC/VICC Partnership
UN-PAC Frequently Asked Questions
What does UN-PAC stand for?
United Nashville Partner Against Cancer (UN-PAC) is a network for sharing information and resources related to eliminating cancer disparities. Serving as the “public face” of COC, UN-PAC enhances existing efforts and facilitates the formation of community-academic partnerships for Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) and outreach.
Why a backpack as UN-PACs logo?
The UN-PAC backpack logo is an allusion to the anti-racism work of Peggy McIntosh and other scholars, exemplified in the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” What this work recognizes is that inequities, including cancer disparities, are multi-dimensional and embedded in the fabric of interpersonal relationships, social structures and institutional practices (i.e., social determinants of health). Eliminating cancer disparities requires “unpacking,” questioning & changing limited ideas, faulty assumptions, historical challenges and ineffective business practices (even in research) that create and maintain unequal power relations between people (researchers, health professionals and health consumers), academic institutions, and organizations affected by cancer. UN-PAC serves as the COCs vehicle for this work.
