April is National Minority Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and LCRF is committed to funding research to help equalize access and improve outcomes for all. Dr. Eugene Manley, Jr., LCRF’s Director of Scientific Programs, talks about the foundation’s commitment to equitable care and outlines the types of research taking place right now.
Creative solutions for lung cancer disparities
Dr. Manali Patel received a LCRF Research Grant on Disparities in Lung Cancer, and she’s working with community-based resources and organizations to ensure that patients receive precision medicine and evidence-based treatments. Read more about her work, and hear her tell about the improvements patients are seeing in terms of their experience with care and their quality of life:
Learning the ‘why’ behind lung cancer disparities
One alarming statistic is that Black smokers are more likely to develop lung cancer than White smokers. Dr. Chengguo Xing received a LCRF Research Grant on Disparities in Lung Cancer for his work to understand why. Read more about Dr. Xing’s project, and hear what he has to say about his research:
Understanding the immune landscape of NSCLC
Dr. Marjory Charlot spoke with us earlier in the month about her research understanding the immune landscape of NSCLC in African-Americans. Read more about her project.
“I agree with others that it is unclear why Black patients with lung cancer tend to be diagnosed at a younger age,” Dr. Charlot explained. “It is also unclear why Black men in particular have disproportionate mortality from lung cancer compared to other racial and ethnic groups and compared to women with lung cancer.”
“I believe that we need to start evaluating the influence of the social determinants of health, specifically structural racism, to help guide our investigation of why these racial and gender differences in lung cancer incidence and mortality disproportionately impact Black men.”