Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Addressing health disparities in cancer with genomics

Incorporating genomics more widely into cancer screening and management will help to tackle the mortality gap between Black and white patients with cancer. Here, we emphasize the role of genomics as a tool to promote health equity in cancer.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2021 (American Cancer Society, 2021).

  2. Murthy, V. H., Krumholz, H. M. & Gross, C. P. Participation in cancer clinical trials: race-, sex-, and age-based disparities. JAMA 291, 2720–2726 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Winkfield, K. M. et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology strategic plan for increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the oncology workforce. J. Clin. Oncol. 35, 2576–2579 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. [No authors listed.] 2020 snapshot: state of the oncology workforce in America. JCO Oncol. Pract. 17, 30 (2021).

  5. Daly, B. & Olopade, O. I. A perfect storm: how tumor biology, genomics, and health care delivery patterns collide to create a racial survival disparity in breast cancer and proposed interventions for change. CA Cancer J. Clin. 65, 221–238 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Guindalini, R. S. C. et al. Intensive surveillance with biannual dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging downstages breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Clin. Cancer Res. 25, 1786–1794 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kuhl, C. K. & Schrading, S. More is more: semiannual breast MRI screening in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Clin. Cancer Res. 25, 1693–1695 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Smith, J. J. et al. Assessment of a watch-and-wait strategy for rectal cancer in patients with a complete response after neoadjuvant therapy. JAMA Oncol. 5, e185896 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ibraheem, A., Olopade, O. I. & Huo, D. Propensity score analysis of the prognostic value of genomic assays for breast cancer in diverse populations using the National Cancer Data Base. Cancer 126, 4013–4022 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Dewdney, S. et al. Low rates of BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing for patients with ovarian cancer in ASCO’s CancerLinQ, a real-world database. J. Clin. Oncol. 38 (Suppl. 15), 6041 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olufunmilayo I. Olopade.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

O.I.O. is a co-founder of CancerIQ, a scientific advisor for Tempus Inc., and serves on the board of directors of 54gene. O.D.B. declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Balogun, O.D., Olopade, O.I. Addressing health disparities in cancer with genomics. Nat Rev Genet 22, 621–622 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-021-00390-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-021-00390-4

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer