National Cancer Institute

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health

NIH Publication No. 08-6017

Printed June 2008

Center to Reduce

Cancer Health

Disparities

Researching and

Partnering to

Reduce Cancer

Health Disparities

An Overview of Cancer Health Disparities

Cancer affects people of all races and ethnicities

in the U.S. In 2007, about 565,650 Americans are

expected to die of cancer, more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of

death in the U.S., exceeded only by heart disease.

In the U.S., cancer accounts for 1 of every 4 deaths.

The burden of cancer, however, is greater for the

poor, racially and ethnically diverse groups, and the

uninsured compared to the general population. 

In recent years, there have been significant

advances in science and in understanding and

treatment of cancer. Yet, there are many people

in this country who do not sufficiently benefit

from these research advances. This gap between

what we know and what we deliver is a critical

determinant in health disparities.

Contact Information

Please visit the CRCHD Web site at

http://crchd.cancer.gov/ or contact us if you

would like more information about CRCHD.

Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities

6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 602

Rockville, MD 20852

PHONE: 301-496-8589

FAX: 301-435-9225

1973 Henschke UK, et al. published Alarming

Increase of Cancer Mortality in the 

U.S. Black Population (1950-1967).

1985 U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services released the Report of the

Secretary's Task Force on Black and

Minority Health.

1989 NCI founded the National Black

Leadership Initiative on Cancer.

1992 NCI founded the National Hispanic

Leadership Initiative and Appalachian

Leadership Initiative on Cancer.

1997 NCI established the Continuing

Umbrella of Research Experiences 

program (CURE).

1999 Institute of Medicine issued The

Unequal Burden of Cancer, and the

President's Cancer Panel issued

Discovery Must Be Linked to Delivery.

2001 President's Cancer Panel issued 

Voices of a Broken System: Real

People, Real Problems. 

2001 NCI established the Center to Reduce

Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD).

2001 NCI established the Minority Institution

Cancer Center Partnership program

(MI/CCP).

2003 Institute of Medicine issued Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and

Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare. 

2004 Trans-HHS Cancer Health Disparities

Progress Review Group issued Making

Cancer Health Disparities History.

2005 NCI established 25 Community

Networks Programs (CNP), building on

the Special Populations Networks.

2005 NCI established the Patient Navigation

Research Program (PNRP).

2006 NCI published the proceedings 

from Enhancing Interactions to 

Reduce Cancer Health Disparities: 

An NCI-wide Workshop.

Milestones in Cancer Health Disparities
Working to Overcome Disparities

CRCHD is committed to the NCI strategic 

objective to overcome cancer health disparities.

Four Current CRCHD Research and 

Training Initiatives:

• The Community Networks Program (CNP)

The Community Networks Program (CNP)

expands upon previous NCI-funded community

research to reduce cancer disparities through

community-based participatory cancer 

education, training and research among

racially and ethnically diverse, and underserved populations. The goal of the program

is to increase access to and use of beneficial

cancer interventions to reduce disparities.

• The Patient Navigation Research Program 

(PNRP)

The Patient Navigation Research Program

links patients with trained health care 

workers—or “navigators”—who assist those

in need of cancer care services. The overall

goal of this program is to develop and 

evaluate innovative patient navigator 

interventions designed to decrease the time

between a cancer-related abnormal finding,

definitive diagnosis, and delivery of quality

standard cancer care services.

• Minority Institution/Cancer Center 

Partnership (MI/CCP)

MI/CCP aims to create stable, comprehensive,

and long-term partnerships between minority

serving institutions (MSIs) and cancer centers

(CCs) in the areas of research, training, career

development, and outreach. Through these

collaborations, MSIs and CCs work together

to train scientists from diverse backgrounds 

in cancer research, and enhance efforts to

effectively reach racially and ethnically diverse

communities with cancer advances.

Established in March 2001, the National Cancer

Institute’s (NCI’s) Center to Reduce Cancer

Health Disparities (CRCHD) is central to NCI’s

efforts to reduce the unequal burden of cancer in

racially and ethnically diverse and underserved

populations, and train the next generation of

competitive researchers from diverse populations

in cancer and cancer health disparities research.

CRCHD integrates studies across NCI’s research

divisions to identify scientific areas that provide

opportunities to reduce and eliminate cancer

health disparities. 

CRCHD Mission 

• Coordinates and strengthens the NCI 

cancer research portfolio in basic, clinical, 

translational and population-based research

to address cancer health disparities.

• Leads NCI’s efforts in the training of students

and investigators from diverse populations

that will be part of the next generation of

competitive researchers in cancer and cancer

health disparities research. 

• Creates state-of-the-art regional networks/

centers dedicated to cancer health disparities

research and care through geographic 

program management.

Center to Reduce Cancer 

Health Disparities

Researching and

Partnering to Reduce

Cancer Health

Disparities

• Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences

(CURE)

The CURE program introduces promising

young students, researchers and faculty 

from racially and ethnically diverse and underrepresented populations to cancer research,

and provides them with a continuum of 

competitive training and career development

opportunities leading to successful careers 

as independent cancer investigators. The

CURE supports its grantees through CURE

Supplements, Diversity Supplements, NRSA

Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (F31), and Career

Development Awards (K).

Looking Toward the Future

CRCHD's future plans will focus on sponsoring

new cancer and cancer health disparities research

that brings together advances in basic, clinical,

and population-based sciences to address cancers

that are more prevalent in diverse communities.

Research that enhances understanding of the 

biological differences in cancer and improves

access among racially and ethnically diverse and

medically underserved populations to proven

interventions in prevention, early detection, 

treatment, follow-up, and survival will also be

important. 

In addition, the CRCHD will continue to lead

NCI’s efforts in the training of students and new

investigators from diverse communities in cancer

and cancer health disparities research. Finally,

supporting community-based, trans-disciplinary

research will continue to be a hallmark to the

work of CRCHD. 

http://crchd.cancer.gov