A Texas Christian University assistant professor and researcher just earned the university's first-ever Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) award for his research and project on early breast cancer detection and screening.

The $250,000 grant is awarded to Austin Graybeal Ph.D. ’21, assistant professor of kinesiology in TCU’s Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, to continue developing a mobile 3D imaging technology, breast cancer risk image-generated health tool (BRIGHT), to help predict breast density and encourage more people to get mammograms for early breast cancer detection.

The goal? To increase access, especially in rural Texas communities, for early risk-detection technology via a mobile application on your phone.

“There’s a huge need to help those more rural and underserved communities and provide them a patient-centered, pre-screening tool that can at least give them some information about their risk and get them connected,” Graybeal said. “We want to empower people to be able to get them access to health information that more effectively informs their screening follow-through process, regardless of geographical location.”

Rather than replacing mammograms or diagnostics, its purpose is to deliver an accessible, innovative approach to breast cancer prevention, risk education and the next steps to get patients to providers.

Personal Research, Student Opportunity
This research is close to home for Graybeal, as several of his family members –  including his grandmother, mother, aunt and mother-in-law – have been previously diagnosed with breast cancer, and it is a disease that accounts for about one in three women who are diagnosed each year.

“Fortunately for my mother, the experiences from her family and my father always kept prevention at the front of her mind, and after detection at an early stage, she has been cancer-free for several years,” Graybeal said.

His research success is also personal for Graybeal. A Horned Frog himself, he was the first Ph.D. graduate from the kinesiology program at TCU. Since returning to TCU this year as faculty, his research has been published in journals like the American Journal of Human Biology, British Journal of Nutrition, Military Medicine and the Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. 

“Our first Ph.D. in the program brought in our first CPRIT for the university, which speaks to what we are building at TCU,” said Rueben Burch, vice provost for research. “We can continue to expect big-time firsts from our faculty as we make the push to R1.”

Continuing the cycle, Graybeal involved his undergraduate and graduate students in the initial data collection for this research, and will continue collaborating with his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students throughout the project development.

Cross-Departmental Collaboration

Brad Cannell, associate dean for research in Harris College, said this is yet another great example of the groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research happening at TCU.

“This [project] feels like it has the potential to be one of those disruptive technologies that come along and seems like it could make a huge impact on increasing screening, especially early screening,” Cannell said.

This project involved the expertise from faculty across multiple departments in Harris College, including nursing and health science and public health, in addition to kinesiology.

For the clinical side of the oncological research, Graybeal sought out the expertise from Suzy Lockwood, associate dean for nursing and nurse anesthesia.

“BRIGHT is technologically sophisticated, behaviorally informed and equity-focused,” Lockwood said. “BRIGHT enables accurate risk assessment from the comfort of home, an approach that has the potential to reduce barriers to care and increase early detection rates.”

Robyn Trocchio, associate professor and graduate program director in kinesiology, has a background in research and applied behavior analytics, which helped give psychological insight to data collection and assessment.

“By integrating behavioral science with innovative mobile health technologies, this project represents an exciting step toward developing scalable, user-centered approaches to breast cancer prevention that can make a real public health impact,” Trocchio said.

Yan Zhang, professor of professional practice in the Department of Health Sciences & Public Health, was a statistical collaborator in the BRIGHT project.

“Dr. Graybeal’s BRIGHT project represents exactly the kind of high-impact, translational work that CPRIT is designed to support,” Zhang said. “I’m pleased to contribute my expertise in statistics, research methods and program evaluation to help ensure the project is evaluated rigorously and that its findings can meaningfully inform breast cancer prevention and screening efforts. The potential to improve mammogram adherence through an accessible mobile imaging tool is both exciting and highly impactful.”

-Taylor Helmes