Making Cancer Care More Equitable for All
Surviving cancer should not depend on where you were born or how much money you have. But geographical location, income, education and discrimination are just a few barriers that can stand in the way of getting appropriate care.
Moffitt Cancer Center is working hard every day to make health care more accessible to everyone. When President Joe Biden relaunched the Cancer Moonshot last year — with the goal of reducing the cancer death rate by half over the next 25 years and improving the lives of people with cancer and their families, with the ultimate goal of ending cancer — it highlighted the tremendous headway Moffitt has already been making.
Here are just a few examples of how Moffitt is closing the care gap.
Susan Vadaparampil, Ph.D.
“Moffitt’s Community Outreach, Engagement & Equity (COEE) office educates our community about what we can do today to prevent cancer or detect it early. We provide outreach to link community members to services at Moffitt and beyond; in some cases, we bring the services directly to the community. To advance breakthroughs of tomorrow with the greatest potential to achieve cancer equity, COEE provides Moffitt scientists with data about disparities, creates opportunities to engage with patients and community members, and works with community partners. COEE serves as a catalyst for novel education, outreach and science to close the cancer gaps once and for all.”
- Susan Vadaparampil, Ph.D., associate center director, Community Outreach, Engagement & Equity
Edmondo Robinson, M.D.
“Used thoughtfully, digital has the potential to help address health disparities and improve health equity. Virtual care has been proven to decrease cancer care expense for patients, artificial intelligence algorithms can help improve enrollment in clinical trials for otherwise underrepresented patient populations, and mobile and online engagement options makes receiving the best cancer care easier for all who need it.”
- Edmondo Robinson, M.D., senior vice president and chief digital officer
Cathy Grant
“Harnessing the diverse talents and perspectives of team members better prepares us to meet the unique needs of the communities we serve. Together, we make a collective impact toward achieving advances in cancer treatments and cures that results in equitable health outcomes for all patients and communities.”
- Cathy Grant, vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer
Jhanelle Gray, M.D.
“Lung cancer causes more cancer deaths than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined. However, only 6% of those eligible are getting screened. We could save approximately 60,000 lives each year if the 14.5 million Americans who are eligible received an annual lung cancer screening.”
- Jhanelle Gray, M.D., chair of the Thoracic Oncology Department at Moffitt
