Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and the IU School of Medicine have discovered that Black patients with breast cancer who are treated with docetaxel experience less peripheral neuropathy. Their findings represent an important shift in knowledge about a patient population who’ve historically been underrepresented in breast cancer research.
If lifetime impact could be quantified by pages in The Cancer Letter, no person has been more revered than Waun Ki Hong: following Hong’s death in 2019, The Cancer Letter published no fewer than six obituaries. Now, you can hear his story in his own words.
Ray Blind, Ingram Assistant Professor of Cancer Research, was named associate director for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
People of African ancestry (Black/African American) have some of the worst cancer incidence and greatest mortality, compared to white and other racial and ethnic populations in the U.S1-3. On average, Black persons are 1.5 times more likely to have cancer and >2X more likely to die from cancer compared to whites.4-6
To address inequities in cancer health, NCI is collaborating with a diverse team of experts and cancer center directors—named the Cancer Equity Leaders (CEL)—to learn from communities and inform workforce development as well as outreach initiatives.
In an article for the Cancer History Project, the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network celebrate six trailblazing Black leaders and pioneers who have made a lasting impact on health equity in oncology.
In 2018, Narjust Florez was attending a panel at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and on the stage were three physicians—one woman and two men.
On her first day of medical school at the University of Virginia in 1963, Vivian Pinn waited for the other students who looked like her to show up.
Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), Ranking Member Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf to urge the agency to move forward with guidance to improve the diversity of populations represented in clinical trials.
A month after reporting to work in the top job at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Taofeek K. Owonikoko reflected on the obligations that come with being a Black director of an NCI-designated cancer center.
