This $215,546 Project Grant was awarded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research (CFDA 93.307) program. The project aims to evaluate the equity impact and cost-effectiveness of three real-world lung cancer screening strategies: the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines, the American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines, and a screening...
This federal Project Grant award of $334,233, awarded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the Cancer Cause and Prevention Research (CFDA 93.393) program, will support a comprehensive research study examining disparities in novel cancer therapies, the joint effects of cancer treatment and comorbidities, and multi-level contributors to cancer survival outcomes. The University of South Carolina, the prime awardee, will conduct innovative data linkages between the state cancer registry,...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), under the 21st Century Cures Act - Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot program (CFDA 93.353), aims to determine barriers leading to inferior survival for Black and Hispanic patients with Hodgkin lymphoma. The $589,591 award, granted on February 1, 2025, will fund a 5-year study by the University of Florida to: Examine differences in the receipt and quality of Hodgkin lymphoma treatment for initial diagnosis and relapse. Examine the...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), under the Cancer Cause and Prevention Research program (CFDA 93.393), will support research conducted by Thomas Jefferson University to investigate genomic factors contributing to racial disparities in metastatic prostate cancer outcomes. The key products or services to be delivered under this $156,000 award include whole-exome sequencing of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from paired Black and White patients with metastatic...
This $238,824 Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Research Manpower program (CFDA 93.398) aims to optimize treatment decisions and quality-adjusted life years for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through improved lymph node staging. The primary goals are to: 1) Leverage an ongoing cohort study to determine if endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS) can better detect the extent of cancer spread compared to...
This Project Grant award, in the amount of $269,942, was provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the Cancer Research Manpower (CFDA 93.398) federal grant program. The award aims to develop and pilot test a community health worker (CHW) intervention to improve lung cancer screening (LCS) uptake and address disparities in LCS among Black and Hispanic communities served by community health centers. The key products and services to be delivered include: 1) Jointly...
This federal Project Grant award of $968,999.00 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the Cancer Cause and Prevention Research program (CFDA 93.393) aims to optimize surveillance for lung cancer survivors treated with curative-intent surgery. The key products and services to be delivered include: Examining 12,000 individuals treated surgically for stage I or II non-small cell lung cancer from 2015-2025, with follow-up through 2027, to determine real-world practice patterns and...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded a $171,163 Project Grant (CFDA 93.393 - Cancer Cause and Prevention Research) to the University of Texas at Arlington to conduct a systematic examination of the impact of rural hospital closures on cancer outcomes and racial disparities among Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with lung, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. The study aims to (1) assess the effects of rural hospital closures on cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, mortality, and...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the 21st Century Cures Act - Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot program (CFDA 93.353) provides $1,165,096.00 to the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research to investigate the social genomic mechanisms linking structural racism, perceived discrimination, and breast cancer survival. The key products and services to be delivered under this 5-year award include: 1) Defining the contributions of objective structural racism and...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded a 5-year, $162,160 Project Grant (CFDA 93.398 - Cancer Research Manpower) to The Ohio State University to improve the assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among Black/African-American cancer patients. The research will involve qualitative interviews with Black cancer patients and their providers to understand barriers and facilitators to completing PROs and social determinants of health (SDH) measures. This knowledge will inform the...
REDUCING RACIAL DISPARITIES AND ACHIEVING HEALTH EQUITY IN LUNG CANCER TREATMENT AMONG THE UNDERSERVED - PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT LUNG CANCER IS THE MOST LETHAL CANCER AND IS RESPONSIBLE FOR 1.8 MILLION DEATHS WORLDWIDE. BLACKS ARE 15% LESS LIKELY TO BE DIAGNOSED EARLY, 10% MORE LIKELY TO NOT RECEIVE ANY TREATMENT, AND 12% LESS LIKELY TO SURVIVE 5 YEARS COMPARED TO WHITES. OVERWHELMINGLY, THERE IS ENOUGH PROOF THAT CANCER TREATMENTS SUCH AS PLATINUM- BASED CHEMOTHERAPY DRUGS, IMMUNOTHERAPY DRUGS, HORMONE TREATMENT, ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS, COMBINATION TREATMENT, AND ANTI-CANCER AGENTS, ARE EFFECTIVE IN PROLONGING SURVIVAL. IN ADDITION, DELAYS, EARLY TERMINATION OF TREATMENTS AND EARLY TERMINATION OF TREATMENT CYCLES OCCUR AMONG THE ELDERLY AND INCREASE MORTALITY. FURTHERMORE, THERE MAY BE IMPORTANT CAUSAL FACTORS IN RELATION TO PATIENT AND PROVIDER CHARACTERISTICS THAT MAY INFLUENCE TREATMENT SUCCESS. HOWEVER, WE DO NOT KNOW HOW WELL IT GENERALIZES IN TERMS OF RISKS FOR SURVIVAL TO BLACK NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER (NSCLC) PATIENTS, A POPULATION WITH HIGHER RATES OF LUNG CANCER-SPECIFIC AND ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY COMPARED TO WHITES. OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO STUDY THE DISPARITIES IN INEQUITABLE CANCER TREATMENTS AND SURVIVAL BY EDUCATING CLINICIANS. OUR SHORT-TERM GOAL IS TO DOCUMENT AND COMMUNICATE RACIAL INEQUITIES DISCOVERED TO CLINICIANS. OUR MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER BLACK NSCLC PATIENTS ARE RECEIVING COMPARABLE CANCER TREATMENT TO WHITE NSCLC PATIENTS THAT CAN LENGTHEN THEIR SURVIVAL. OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT THERE ARE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN RECEIVING CANCER TREATMENT AND TREATMENT COMBINATIONS, SUCH AS CHEMOTHERAPY PLUS IMMUNOTHERAPY THAT MAY IMPROVE SURVIVAL. WE WILL USE THE NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER NETWORK ONCOLOGIC GUIDELINES FOR NSCLC TO DETERMINE STANDARD TREATMENT. TO ADDRESS OUR SPECIFIC AIMS, WE WILL USE A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY DESIGN AND ANALYZE OUR DATA USING LOGISTIC AND SURVIVAL MIXED MODELS. OUR SPECIFIC AIMS ARE TO: 1) DETERMINE RACIAL DISPARITIES FOR RECEIPT OF CANCER TREATMENTS, TIME TO RECEIVING FIRST SINGLE CANCER TREATMENT/TREATMENT COMBINATIONS, NUMBER OF CYCLES AND DOSE GIVEN IN NSCLC; 2) DETERMINE THE IMPACT OF TIME ON LUNG-SPECIFIC SURVIVAL AND OVERALL SURVIVAL; AND 3) INVESTIGATE THE BIDIRECTIONAL INTERSECTIONALITY OF CAUSAL FACTORS IN RECEIVING TREATMENT, DELAYS IN RECEIVING FIRST TREATMENT, NUMBER OF CYCLES, AND DOSE THAT IMPACT RACIAL DISPARITIES BY STAGE, INCLUDING PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS (TOXICITIES FROM CANCER TREATMENTS, HISTOLOGY, SYMPTOM BURDEN, COMORBIDITIES, AGE, SEX, INSURANCE, SES LEVELS, URBAN/RURAL AREA) AND PROVIDER CHARACTERISTICS (TYPE OF FACILITY, HOSPITAL OWNERSHIP, TEACHING STATUS, LOCATION, AND NUMBER OF HOSPITAL BEDS). FUTURE STUDIES WILL BE AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THESE SPECIFIC AIMS IN OTHER MINORITY GROUPS, OTHER TYPES OF CANCERS FOR WHICH BLACKS HAVE DECREASED SURVIVAL, AND TRANSLATING THE QUALITATIVE ASPECTS OF TREATMENT MANAGEMENT IN NSCLC PATIENTS.