Mitchell Elected to Fellowship in Royal College of Physicians of London
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Jefferson
Edith P. Mitchell, MD, FACP, FCPP, FRCP, associate director for diversity affairs at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health, has been recognized as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (RCP). The RCP was founded in 1518 by a royal charter from King Henry VIII.
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Sadelain Receives Fondation ARC Award
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was named a recipient of the 49th Fondation ARC Léopold Griffuel Award for Translational and Clinical Research.
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McDonnell Elected to National Academy of Inventors
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Donald McDonnell, PhD, has been elected as a fellow to the National Academy of Inventors. Using a combination of genetics, biochemistry, and chemical biology, Dr. McDonnell explores fundamental mechanistic aspects of estrogen receptor signaling in breast cancer.
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Three Roswell Park Experts Acknowledged as Influential Researchers
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Igor Puzanov, MD, MSCI, FACP, Andrew Hyland, PhD, and Maciej Goniewicz, PhD, PharmD, have all recently been recognized as global scientific pioneers on the 2020 Clarivate Plc Highly Cited Researchers list.
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Nir Named to New Endowed Professorship
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
Itzhak Nir, MD, has been appointed the first Elsie P. Barry/Cowboys for Cancer Research Endowed Professor in Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary and Oncology Surgery at UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Nir served as surgical director in transplantation surgery at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem and as a surgical oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
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Wolchok Named ESMO Award Winner
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is the recipient of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Award for Immuno-Oncology 2020.
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Facilities Manager Recognized for Leadership
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
Stewart Livsie, manager of maintenance and construction at UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, was recently named by the International Facility Management Association as one of its top 40 facilities managers under 40 years old for 2020. His leadership helped ensure that the center remained open during the pandemic.
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UPMC Hillman Rated Exceptional by NCI
UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
UPMC Hillman Cancer Center received an "exceptional" score, the highest achievable rating, and its largest grant to date when it was recently renewed as a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for another five-year period. The award includes a five-year, $30 million grant. Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, is the center's director.
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$25 Million Gift Received for Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence
Rutgers Cancer Institute
A $25 million anonymous philanthropic gift to Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey will provide groundbreaking support for the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence. The gift also supports the recruitment of a co-director to lead the center along with Rutgers Cancer Institute Deputy Director Eileen White, PhD. Following a nationwide search, Christian Hinrichs, MD, was recruited from the National Cancer Institute.
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$10 Million Gift Supports New Myeloma Research Center
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute has received a $10 million gift from the Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation to establish the Riney Family Foundation Myeloma Center for Advanced Research Excellence.
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Democratizing DNA-Based Health Risk Scores
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have been using the strength of large numbers to analyze the genetic variants of different ethnic groups in order to create accurate, unbiased polygenic risk scores for colorectal cancer. Now, they’re doing the same thing in cardiovascular disease, with a $9.8 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
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Initiative Seeks to Extract Cancer Phenotypes From Electronic Health Records
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $4.35 million grant for the development of interactive visual tools that will allow researchers to extract cancer phenotypes from electronic medical records. The five-year grant was awarded based upon the work of the Cancer Deep Phenotype Extraction (DeepPhe) project.
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Grant Bolsters Deep Tissue Imaging Research
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Researchers in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science have received a $1 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to develop "deep tissue" imaging methods that can peer into the furthest corners of the body.
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Ultrasound Technology Research Leads to $2 Million NCI Grant
Cancer Center at Illinois
Cancer Center at Illinois member, Michael Oelze, PhD, and his collaborative breast cancer and ultrasound imaging research with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada, was awarded a $2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. The project aims to identify the early response of breast cancer patients to neoadjuvant chemotherapy using quantitative ultrasound imaging technology.
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Cancer Pilot Projects Funded
Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University
The Cancer Center at Brown University has announced the funding of eight pilot projects, which were selected from 24 proposals by a panel of expert faculty in a National Institutes of Health study section-style review. Funds for the pilot project were provided by generous donors. The Division of Hematology/Oncology at Lifespan Health System/Brown provided additional support.
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Interim Executive Director Announced
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Adam Marcus, PhD, has been appointed interim executive director of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Dr. Marcus assumes the role from Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, while Emory University conducts a national search for Winship's next executive director.
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Wakelee Appointed Deputy Director
Stanford Cancer Institute
Heather Wakelee, MD, has been appointed deputy director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, effective January 2021. She has also been named as the new division chief of oncology in Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine.
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Camp Named Chief of Surgical Oncology
Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine
E. Ramsay Camp, MD, FACS, has joined the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine as professor and chief of surgical oncology in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery’s Division of Surgical Oncology.
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Hematologist/Stem Cell Biologist to Direct Hematology and Cellular Therapy
Cedars-Sinai Cancer
John P. Chute, MD, has been selected to direct the Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy in the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Cancer. The physician-scientist also serves as director of the Center for Myelodysplastic Diseases Research and associate director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.
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Multiple Myeloma Expert Joins Sylvester Leadership
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami
Hematologic oncologist C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, is the inaugural leader of a new research program, experimental therapeutics, at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Health System. Dr. Landgren was chief of myeloma service for the past six years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
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Tereffe Named Chief Medical Executive
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has named
Welela Tereffe, MD, as chief medical executive. She assumed his new position and joined the institution’s executive leadership team on January 1.
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New Division Chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation Named
Stanford Cancer Institute
David Miklos, MD, PhD, has been appointed the new division chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation in Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine, effective January 2021. Dr. Miklos will be only the third chief in the more than 30-year history of the program, succeeding Robert Negrin, MD, after his 20 years in that role.
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Halene Appointed Chief of Hematology
Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine
Stephanie Halene, MD, PhD, has been appointed chief of hematology at Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital and the Yale School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. She received her medical degree and doctorate degree from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in Tübingen, Germany.
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Smith Appointed Chief, Section of Hematology/Oncology
The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center
The University of Chicago Department of Medicine has announced that Sonali Smith, MD, an expert in lymphoma therapeutics, has been appointed as chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Smith has been serving in an interim capacity since April 2019.
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Biomarker of Aggressive Childhood Cancer Discovered
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a new diagnostic marker that distinguishes a fast-growing type of the pediatric brain cancer medulloblastoma from a less aggressive type. The study showed that this biomarker differentiates aggressive group 3 medulloblastoma from the more treatment-responsive group 4 medulloblastoma.
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Clinical Trial Shows Microbubbles May Improve Effectiveness of Radiation Therapy for Liver Cancer
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Jefferson
Current treatments for liver cancer include a targeted radiation therapy delivered with the help of radiation-emitting glass beads. New research shows that this treatment can be augmented by infusing microbubbles—small gas bubbles surrounded by a lipid shell—into the liver, and popping those bubbles by ultrasound, in a first-in-human pilot clinical trial of the combination.
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Key Driver of the Spread of Cancer to the Brain Discovered
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Few treatment options exist for patients diagnosed with brain metastases because the mechanisms that allow cancer to spread to the brain remain unclear. However, a study recently published by a VCU Massey Cancer Center scientist offers hope for the development of future therapies by showing how a poorly understood gene known as YTHDF3 plays a significant role in the process.
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FDA Approval Granted for Prostate Cancer Imaging Technique
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Two University of California medical centers, UC San Francisco and UCLA, and their nuclear medicine teams have obtained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to offer a new imaging technique for prostate cancer that locates cancer lesions in the pelvic area and other parts of the body to which the tumors have migrated. The PSMA PET technique is highly effective in detecting prostate cancer throughout the body so that it can be better and more selectively treated.
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New Combination Therapy Could Help Fight Difficult-to-Treat Cancers With Common Mutations
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists have found a new combination therapy that suppresses the MAPK pathway by holding cancer-driving proteins in a death grip. This combination of two small molecules has the potential to treat not only BRAF mutated melanoma but also additional aggressive subtypes of cancers, including melanoma, lung, pancreatic, and colon cancers that harbor RAS or NF1 mutations.
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Research Identifies Safe and Effective Method of Delivering Medicines to the Lungs
Rutgers Cancer Institute
Investigators at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School recently identified a new method for safe and effective delivery of medicines to the lungs that can be used for multiple clinical applications, potentially including aerosol vaccination.
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Sequencing Study Highlights Previously Unknown Myeloma Resistance Mechanisms
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
A group of researchers led by Maximillian Merz, MD, conducted the first prospective clinical trial investigating spatial heterogeneity in patients with either relapsed/refractory or newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.
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Scientists Discover Promising Key to Preventing Cancer Relapse After Immunotherapy
The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai
Joshua Brody, MD, and Mount Sinai colleagues have solved one of the enduring mysteries of cancer immunotherapy: Why does it completely eliminate tumors in many patients, even when not all the cells in those tumors have the molecular target that the therapy is aimed at?
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Pod E-Cigarettes Less Harmful Than Regular Cigarettes, Study Finds
Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University
In the first-ever clinical trial of fourth-generation electronic cigarettes, researchers found that adults who switched to e-cigarettes had lower levels of a major carcinogen compared to smokers who continued using combustible cigarettes.
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Study Shows Regional Variation in Prostate Cancer Genomic Testing
Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine
In a new study by Yale Cancer Center, researchers found substantial regional variation in use of genomic testing for prostate cancer, raising questions about access and other factors that might promote rapid adoption of new cancer technologies. Michael Leapman, MD, is lead author of the study.
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Drugs Create Balancing Act for Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
A large retrospective study of patients who received a form of immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer revealed that patients may get more than one immune-related side effect, and identified a correlation between these multisystem immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and improved patient survival. In fact, patients who developed two irAEs did better, in terms of delaying the time to cancer progression and overall survival, than those who developed only one irAE.
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More Cancer Patients Could Benefit From Rehabilitation, Researcher Says
WVU Cancer Institute
In a new systematic review, Nicole Stout, DPT, FAPTA, and her colleagues identified rehabilitation recommendations included in cancer-treatment guidelines from around the world. The guidelines recommended rehabilitation for a variety of cancer types and consequences of cancer treatment. But the researchers discovered a disconnect between what the guidelines suggested and what many doctors do.
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Study: Potential Cancer Therapy May Boost Immune Response
Cedars-Sinai Cancer
A new approach to cancer therapy shows potential to transform the commonly used chemotherapy drug gemcitabine into a drug that kills cancer cells in a specialized way, activating immune cells to fight the cancer, according to a study led by Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators.
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Genomics, Mathematics Help Personalize Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer
Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center
A new paper demonstrates an approach to combining individual tumor genomics and mathematics to personalize the dose of radiation therapy for lung cancer patients. By applying this personalized technology, the study shows an opportunity to increase the efficacy and decrease the toxicity of radiation therapy.
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Homegrown Immunotherapy Trialed in Lung Cancer
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
In 2010, Edward Patz, Jr., MD, and colleagues first identified a unique auto-antibody in some early-stage lung cancer patients, responsible for initiating a process that deactivates the protective "force field" around cancer cells, making them vulnerable to attack by the body’s own immune system. Now a drug they developed based on this discovery is in a Phase 1b clinical trial.
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Immune Cell That Drives Breast Cancer Growth Could Be Effective Target in Immunotherapies to Treat the Disease
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
New research findings from Paula Bos, PhD, identified a type of immune cells that acts as a major driver of breast cancer growth by preventing the accumulation of a specific protein that induces anti-tumor responses.
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Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugate Shows Promising Early Results in Rare Blood Cancer
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
A Phase I/II study led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found IMGN632, a novel CD123-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, was tolerable and resulted in a 29 percent overall response rate in patients with relapsed/refractory blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), and a 31 percent overall response rate in BPDCN patients with prior tagraxofusp treatment.
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Big Data Powers Design of 'Smart' Cell Therapies
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
In two new papers, UC San Francisco and Princeton University scientists present complementary strategies for finding medicines that kill cancer cells while preserving normal tissue. These "smart" cell therapies remain inert unless triggered by combinations of proteins that only appear together in cancer cells. This approach has been explored by Wendell Lim, PhD, and colleagues.
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Prognostic, Predictive Markers Have Growing Importance in CLL Management
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
Y. Lynn Wang, MD, PhD, FACP, recently published a comprehensive review of molecular biomarkers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The review discusses both prognostic biomarkers, those that help indicate risk of disease development regardless of treatment, and predictive biomarkers, those that identify individuals who are more or less likely to benefit from a specific treatment, for CLL.
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Study Links Persistent Cough to E-Cigarette Use Among College Students
UK Markey Cancer Center
A new study by researchers in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing shows correlations between use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes, and persistent cough among college students.
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Changes Needed to Address Financial Hardship From Cancer
University of Colorado Cancer Center
Cathy Bradley, PhD, deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, is the lead author of a paper that suggests that it is time to add routine screening for financial hardships after a cancer diagnosis as a quality measure in clinical practice.
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New Cancer Drugs Lead to Life-Threatening Financial Choices
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
A raft of studies by health outcomes researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center illustrate the difficult choices cancer patients are forced to make regarding an expanding class of targeted drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
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Ohio State Announces Passing of Albert de la Chapelle
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
OSUCCC - James has announced the passing of Albert de la Chapelle, PhD, MD, a distinguished university professor in the Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics at Ohio State who played a key role in developing and leading the university’s human cancer genetics program to prominence.
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Researchers Discover Men Fighting Both Cancer and COVID-19 at Higher Risk Than Women
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Men with cancer and COVID-19 may be at significantly higher risk for severe symptoms and even death as compared to females fighting both, a University of Kansas Cancer Center research team led by
Anup Kasi, MD, MPH, has found.
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Study Provides Evidence for a 7-Day Quarantine for University Students Exposed to COVID-19
UK Markey Cancer Center
A new University of Kentucky study provides direct evidence for a testing strategy that could be used to support a shortened period of quarantine for university students who are exposed to COVID-19 but are asymptomatic. Jill Kolesar, PharmD, is principal investigator of the study.
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Virologist Part of Historic FDA Panel That Endorsed COVID-19 Vaccine
UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Patrick Moore, MD, MPH, distinguished professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was a part of the small committee of scientists tasked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with reviewing the data provided by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which has developed a COVID-19 vaccine.
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Prostate Cancer Regulator Plays Role in COVID-19, Providing a Promising Treatment Lead
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
By taking a lesson from prostate cancer, researchers now have a promising lead on a treatment for COVID-19. Two proteins, ACE2 and TMPRSS2, help the coronavirus gain entry and replicate within cells. TMPRSS2 is well-known to Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD. His lab discovered that TMPRSS2 fuses with the ETS gene to drive more than half of all prostate cancers.
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Newly Diagnosed Cancer Patients, African Americans More at Risk for COVID-19
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Cancer patients, especially newly diagnosed and African-American patients, are significantly at risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and mortality, according to a new study published by researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Similar Factors Cause Health Disparities in Cancer, COVID-19
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Income level, employment, housing location, medical insurance, education, tobacco and alcohol use, diet and obesity, access to medical care. These are some of the factors causing worse cancer outcomes in people who are Black. The same factors are also causing worse outcomes from COVID-19 in this population.
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