Realizing the Bold Vision of Health Equity

Through a wide range of programs and initiatives, the AACR fosters cancer health equity and advances its mission to prevent and cure all cancers—for all patients.

CANCER HEALTH DISPARITIES

The AACR has been a longtime leader in advancing the science of cancer health disparities. Through meetings, data collection, funded research, and scientific reports, AACR members identify, quantify, and understand the causes of cancer health disparities—which is critical to the development and implementation of strategies to eliminate them.

• AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. The fifteenth edition of this annual conference—the first major scientific conference focused on the science of cancer disparities—was held in September in the AACR’s headquarters city of Philadelphia. Organized in association with AACR Minorities in Cancer Research, the first in-person edition of the conference since 2019 brought together more than 800 scientists, clinicians, health care professionals, cancer survivors, and patient advocates to share the latest cutting-edge research on cancer disparities.

To accompany the robust slate of more than 400 proffered papers presented at the meeting, conference cochairs Kevin L. Gardner, MD, PhD, K. Sean Kimbro, PhD, Martin Mendoza, PhD, Camille C. R. Ragin, PhD, and Claradina Soto, PhD, developed a comprehensive program that covered the full breadth and depth of topics in cancer health disparities, including the basic science of stress and cancer disparities; clinical cancer research and diversity; tumor microenvironment, tumor immunology, and cancer disparities; obesity and cancer; incorporating genetic ancestry into cancer research; and disparities in survivorship.

The conference also provided an opportunity for the NCI to engage with the cancer health disparities community. Acting NCI Director Douglas R. Lowy, MD, FAACR (right), convened the meeting with a keynote address titled “Ending cancer as we know it—for all,” in which he briefed the community on NIH and NCI initiatives to advance equity and inclusion in cancer research and care. The NCI also hosted a Listening Session at the conference during which attendees provided real-time feedback on the NCI’s priorities for the future of cancer disparities research.

• Disparities Research at the AACR Annual Meeting 2023: Showcasing Science and Solutions. Under the leadership of program chair Marcia Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD, the AACR Annual Meeting offered a platform for the latest science focused on cancer health disparities:

• Plenary Session: Decoding Cancer Health Disparities—Integration of Complex Data and Diversity to Achieve Equity. The topic of disparities was featured on the main stage at this plenary session chaired by Mariana C. Stern, PhD. The session featured Yu Shyr, PhD, Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD, Olusegun I. Alatise, Andy Futreal, PhD, and Cheryl L. Willman, MD (right), addressing topics such as data and tumor banking in precision medicine, the impact of diverse ancestral backgrounds, the study of rare cancers, and culturally sensitive approaches to patient engagement.
• Special Track: Advances in the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. The program included a slate of sessions on critical topics in disparities research, including applying an equity lens to implementation research; obesity and health disparities in cancer; and the molecular epidemiology of stress and discrimination and cancer outcomes.
• Educational Session: Implementation Science—Efforts to Improve Cancer Health Equity. Moderated by Camille C. R. Ragin, PhD, this session addressed how to maintain rigor and reproducibility in implementation science studies, outlined methods for developing effective implementation strategies, and discussed how implementation science can address the root causes of health inequities.

• AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2022. The second edition of this trailblazing report, which outlines the complex socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors that drive and perpetuate cancer health disparities, was released in June. The report catalogued inequities across the cancer research and treatment enterprise—including disparities in the burden of preventable risk factors, screening for early detection, clinical research and cancer treatment, and cancer survivorship—and proposed strategies and policies to eliminate them.
• AACR Project GENIE®: Powering Precision Medicine for All Populations. AACR Project GENIE®—an international registry of clinical sequencing data that provides an evidence base for the entire cancer community—took explicit steps to address cancer health disparities in 2022. In its open call for new participating institutions to join the international consortium, Project GENIE leadership focused specifically onboarding institutions with diverse patient populations, to ensure that the clinical data in the registry continues to reflect the diversity of the patient population that the registry serves.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING

Through education, training, and research funding, the AACR works to ensure that the cancer health care workforce reflects the community it serves. In addition, AACR programs and initiatives examine the structural and systemic biases in the cancer research enterprise and work to eliminate them.

• Funding Meritorious Research from Underrepresented Investigators. The AACR Grants Program took significant steps to diversify the cancer workforce by funding meritorious scientists from diverse backgrounds that are underrepresented in the cancer research community— including women, individuals working in low- and middle-income countries, and members of racial or ethnic minorities. Eighteen grants supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion totaling more than $4.75 million were awarded in 2022, launching the careers of promising researchers who will drive progress against cancer for all communities.
• The Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program: BMSF-AACR Design and Implementation of Clinical Trials Workshop. This vital program was established by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) to increase the diversity of patients enrolled in clinical trials and enhance the development of therapeutics for all populations. Since 2021, the AACR has collaborated with BMSF to organize an annual workshop for early-career investigator physicians who are underrepresented in medicine to educate them in clinical trial implementation.

  Held in November and directed by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Yu Shyr, PhD, and the program’s namesake, Robert A. Winn, MD, the 2022 edition of the AACR workshop introduced the participants to the principles of good clinical trial design and research practice by presenting the ongoing challenges in clinical research; highlighting the benefits of focusing on clinical research, specifically in underrepresented populations; and investigating the disconnect between communities and clinical trialists. The goal of the collaboration is to train 250 community-oriented clinical trial investigators by 2025.

• Advancing the Careers of Minority Faculty. For 25 years—and with the generous support of the NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities—the AACR has offered grants to facilitate the participation in its Annual Meeting of full-time minority faculty members and faculty members of Minority-Serving Institutions. In 2022, a total of 90 minority investigators working at the level of assistant professor or above received either an AACR Minority Scholar Award or a Minority-serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award. The program provides the education and training needed to sustain and diversify the pipeline of cancer scientists.

PATIENT ADVOCACY AND POLICY

The AACR catalyzes progress toward health equity by disseminating critical information to legislators, regulators, and the cancer community and calling for action on policies that can improve public health.

• FDA Guidance on Diversity in Clinical Trials: Fostering Discussion Among Industry Leaders. In April, the FDA released a draft guidance on diversity plans to improve enrollment of participants from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations in clinical trials. In response to the draft, the AACR convened three workshops for leaders of oncology therapeutics companies to discuss best practices for integrating diversity plans into their clinical development strategies.

  The workshops began with an introduction to the guidance from Lola Fashoyin-Aje, MD, MPH, the program lead for Project Equity, an initiative from the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE). The participants then discussed approaches to diversifying clinical trial recruitment, points to consider when implementing an effective diversity strategy, and guidelines for the deployment of operational strategies to clinical sites.

• Pp-Ed: “How to Reduce Racial Disparities in Cancer.” In April, AACR Board member John D. Carpten, PhD, FAACR (near right), collaborated with Kathy Giusti (far right), the founder and chief mission officer of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, to write an op-ed in The Hill that recommended a unique approach to eradicating cancer disparities. The article—which summarized the conclusions derived during a policy session on “Reducing Disparities and Democratizing Cancer Care” at the AACR Annual Meeting 2022—calls for collective action through a public–private partnership led by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and supported by the Cancer Moonshot initiative that improves access to trials and treatments for all patients with cancer.