Anita Kinney, PhD, MSN, Professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and Associate Director for Population Science and Community Outreach at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, is among 10 recipients across the nation of an American Cancer Society and Pfizer community grant of $399,892 to support investigation into reducing racial health disparities in cancer care through precision oncology and immunotherapy.
Anita Kinney, PhD, MSN
Precision oncology has led to effective first-line therapies—including genomic profiling, molecularly targeted agents, and -immunotherapy—and has dramatically improved cancer outcomes. Yet research shows that Black men and women continue to die at disproportionate rates from many different types of cancer due, in part, to barriers accessing innovative cancer care technologies.
The grant will enable Dr. Kinney and other Rutgers colleagues to assess knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, along with sociocultural, clinical, and system-level factors that may explain why Black men and women diagnosed with cancer are less likely to receive molecular testing of tumors and precision oncology treatment and to participate in clinical trials. The team will engage community stakeholders and patient advocates, developing and testing an innovative, patient-centered, and culturally tailored Internet-based education and decision support intervention: Promoting Informed Approaches in Precision Oncology and Immunotherapy (PINPOINT).
“Efforts to improve Black cancer patients’ access to novel treatments must be culturally sensitive; multitargeted; and address patient-, community-, and system-level barriers,” said Dr. Kinney who is also Director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity at Rutgers School of Public Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute. “This grant will allow us to develop and test PINPOINT, an affordable and scalable solution for empowering Black patients with cancer and their families to access and make informed decisions about tumor testing, clinical trials, and novel treatment options.”
The grant, funded by Pfizer Global Medical Grants and overseen by the American Cancer Society, is part of the Addressing Racial Disparities in Cancer Care Competitive Grant Program. This program is a 3-year collaboration working to promote equity in factors that impact cancer outcomes for Black men and women.
