Cancer expert leads educational session at AACR

Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) researcher Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Ph.D., will lead an educational session at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting this weekend addressing cancer health disparities.

The session focuses on how to conduct translational research in precision medicine and overcome barriers to delivering clinical care to underserved populations. The AACR meeting will be held April 14 - 18 in Chicago, Illinois, and is hosted by one of the leading organizations for cancer research, collaboration and education.

Covering several topics related to cancer health disparities, the session includes presentations on defining at-risk populations, minority men’s health and precision oncology. Hughes-Halbert, associate director of education and training and a health disparities expert at HCC at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), will present a sociobiological framework for precision medicine and minority men’s health and ways to apply disparities-based knowledge to health care providers and community practices.

The session also will feature Rick Kittles, Ph.D., of the City of Hope, speaking about defining populations at risk for disparities based on social determinants and genetic ancestry; and John Carpten, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California, who will address population and tumor heterogeneity in cancer genome science and precision oncology.

Hughes-Halbert applauds efforts to bring this topic to the forefront of discussions. “AACR is leading efforts to address cancer health disparities through cutting edge translational research.” 

It’s a theme she champions. The researcher landed an $8 million grant in 2016 from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Cancer Institute to establish the Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center in Precision Medicine and Minority Men’s Health at MUSC. The collaborative aims to integrate existing strategies and determine new approaches for improving health outcomes among minority men through precision medicine.

Set up as a multi-regional consortium network, researchers who are part of the collaborative use medical informatics to integrate genomic, social, clinical and psychological data. The goal is to see how these factors can be adapted into more precise medical strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat chronic health conditions and diseases that disproportionately affect minority men in terms of morbidity and mortality.

“The collaborative is an example of how translational researchers at HCC are working with academic medical centers and community-based organizations to improve health care and outcomes,” she said. “Translational research is helping to address cancer health disparities by disentangling the complex ways in which biological, social and clinical factors interact and lead to the initiation and progression of disease and response to treatment,” she said.

She foresees important insights arising from health disparities research, given the powerful, complex relationships that exist between health and the environment. “Precision medicine has the potential to provide individualized medical care that is based on the patient’s unique genetic, social and behavioral profile.”