Joannie M. Ivory, MD, MSPH, of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses ways to raise the number of Black patients with cancer who take part in clinical trials. More successful accrual may be linked to conducting trials where Black patients live and designing studies to recruit a concrete target percentage of marginalized populations.
Regina Barragán-Carrillo, MD, of Mexico’s National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán, discusses her findings showing that currently, physicians have limited knowledge about breast cancer screening in transgender patients. Were this topic addressed with widespread information, it could possibly reduce the health-care inequalities faced by this diverse group of patients (Abstract 71).
Changchuan Jiang, MD, MPH, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the lack of transportation as a potentially modifiable barrier to care for patients with cancer. Timely intervention may reduce visits to hospital emergency departments, lower costs, and improve outcomes (Abstract 70).
Sandra L. Wong, MD, of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, discusses her study findings showing that when patients with cancer who have had surgery reported severe symptoms via an electronic patient-reported outcomes questionnaire at six cancer centers, it appeared to be beneficial without overtaxing clinicians. There were few strong predictors of severe symptoms, which suggests population surveillance may be preferable to targeted surveillance (Abstract 243).
S. M. Qasim Hussaini, MD, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, discusses findings from a nationwide study of the association between living in areas with discriminatory mortgage practices from the 1930s with present-day access to quality colon cancer care. The study underscores the importance of state- and federal-level practices on mortgage lending regulation and fair housing practices in determining equitable cancer risk, access to care, and outcomes (Abstract 69).