WASHINGTON -- Cancer health equality will be the major focus of , MD, during his yearlong presidency at the American Association for Cancer Research.
"We want to make sure that people aren't born into this world with the curse of cancer because of race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status," he told 鶹ý during an interview at the AACR's annual meeting here.
He said that AACR was concerned that things were not necessarily currently moving in the same direction as the association's mission of equal access to "outstanding preventive and therapeutic strategies for cancer care" and he wanted to move his presidency into "a more positive light."
Caligiuri, director of the and CEO of the Arthur James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, began his 2017-2018 term at AACR annual meeting here.
He said that his three priorities as president are:
- Reducing health disparities
- Recruiting, retaining, and promoting clinical researchers and scientists from underserved populations
- Communicating effectively with survivors and patients about strategies to further prevent cancer, as well as opportunities for clinical trials, prevention, and treatment
He explained that cancer health disparities meant different outcomes for the same disease for individuals with different racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic states, and then referred to the official used by the National Cancer Institute:
"Cancer health disparities are adverse differences between certain population groups in cancer measures, such as: (new cases), prevalence (all existing cases), (cancer-related health complications), (deaths), and after cancer treatment, burden of cancer or related health conditions, rates, and at .
"These population groups may be characterized by race, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexual identity, geographic location, income, education, and other characteristics. Generally, people who are from low socioeconomic backgrounds (poor, lack health insurance, and are medically underserved with limited or no access to effective healthcare) often bear a greater burden of disease than the general U.S. population."
He said his first steps would be to examine the existing resources within AACR, such as Project (Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange) to leverage big data; form a committee to access those resources, and set priorities for projects and goals so that something would be in place by the end of his term in April 2018. In addition, AACR's development office would raise specific funds toward this effort.
Rick Buck, AACR senior director of communications and public relations, who sat in during the interview, said that AACR's CEO and board approve each year's presidential initiative -- thus ensuring that projects have a lifespan beyond a president's single-year term.
Caligiuri noted that his second priority was a subset of the first.
"We have to work hard to recruit, retain, and promote our junior mentees from underserved populations from the United States and around the world. And it's important [to underserved patients] to find people who look like them in the laboratory and the clinic," he said, adding that more meaningful work can be done by those of similar racial, ethnic, or social backgrounds.
He also stressed the importance of educating patients, survivors, and the public about cancer prevention, screening, and early detection.
"In underserved populations, cancer often presents at a later stage with a high rate of mortality, and [his initiative at] AACR is taking a three-prong -- biological, epidemiological, and socio-economic -- approach," he said, noting that the policy piece will be handled through the association's Washington office.
AACR will convene a on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, Sept. 25-28, in Atlanta.