Komen/ASCO Program Aims To Swell Ranks of Minority Oncologists

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Last October, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer advocacy group in Dallas, Texas, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) teamed on a $4 million initiative to combat disparities in cancer care. The initiative builds on a growing response to the problem of cancer disparities in the United States: Racial and ethnic minorities—including African Americans, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans—suffer a disproportionate share of some cancers.

What's new about the Komen/ASCO Diversity in Oncology Initiative, says cochair Derek Raghavan, M.D., director of Ohio's Tausig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, is its goal to increase the number of minority oncologists working in the United States. African Americans make up just 2% of the oncology workforce but 12% of the U.S. population, according to ASCO. And the Census Bureau projects that African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Alaska Natives will account for 39% of the U.S. population by 2050, even as the annual percentage of minority medical students has yet to exceed 12%, a peak it reached in 2000.