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Review
. 2025 Mar 4;6(2):79-93.
doi: 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-24-0153.

Addressing Health Disparities in Hematologic Malignancies: from Genes to Outreach

Christopher R Flowers  1 , Rachel W Anantha  1 , Veronica Leautaud  1 , Pinkal Desai  2 , Chancellor E Donald  3 , Michelle A T Hildebrandt  1 , Jean L Koff  4 , Rulla M Tamimi  2 , Wendy Cozen  5 , Chijioke Nze  1 , Ari M Melnick  2
Affiliations
Review

Addressing Health Disparities in Hematologic Malignancies: from Genes to Outreach

Christopher R Flowers et al. Blood Cancer Discov. .

Abstract

This review underscores our shared responsibility to champion multidimensional strategies rooted in basic and translational science, community involvement, and societal responsiveness for a meaningful impact. Unifying themes include the need to enhance collaborative infrastructure to engage laboratory researchers, epidemiologists, data scientists, clinicians, patients, community leaders, and policymakers; patient-level support services; outreach, education, and navigation for patients at the community level; recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups in the healthcare and research workforce; and funding for these efforts.

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Conflict of interest statement

C.R. Flowers reports grants from the NCI (P01CA272295, U01CA195568, and R01CA242069-S1), Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Influential Medicine Providing Access to Clinical Trials and Equity in Access programs, V Foundation, and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas RR190079: CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research during the conduct of the study, as wells as personal fees from AbbVie, Bayer, BeiGene, Celgene, Denovo Biopharma, Foresight Diagnostics, Genentech/Roche, Genmab, Gilead, Karyopharm, N-Power Medicine, Pharmacyclics/Janssen, SeaGen, and Spectrum, grants from 4D, AbbVie, Acerta, Adaptimmune, Allogene, Amgen, Bayer, Celgene, Cellectis, EMD, Gilead, Genentech/Roche, Guardant, Iovance, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Kite, MorphoSys, Nektar, Novartis, Pfizer, Pharmacyclics, Sanofi, Summit, Takeda, TG Therapeutics, Xencor, Ziopharm, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, and other support from Foresight Diagnostics and N-Power Medicine outside the submitted work. P. Desai reports grants from the NCI, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Janssen Research during the conduct of the study and other support from Bristol Myers Squibb, Kura Oncology, Syndax, Abbvie, Rigel, and other support from Gilead outside the submitted work. J.L. Koff reports grants from the NIH/NCI and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society during the conduct of the study, as well as personal fees from Clinical Care Options, OncLive, MD Education, BeiGene, AbbVie, and IDEOlogy, grants from Viracta Therapeutics, personal fees from Pierre Fabre, and other support from Viracta Therapeutics, Oncternal Therapeutics, and Atara Biotherapeutics outside the submitted work. R.M. Tamimi reports grants from the NIH/NCI and personal fees from Sterigenics outside the submitted work. A.M. Melnick reports grants from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and NCI during the conduct of the study. No disclosures were reported by the other authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Conceptual multilevel framework for investigating, understanding, and addressing disparities in hematologic cancers (, , , , –43). *, Potential funding agencies include the American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Hematology, Lymphoma Research Foundation, and Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
PRISMA flow diagram to identify prospective studies of health disparities in hematologic malignancies. *, One study was common to both leukemia and lymphoma and counted once in the total count. The structured review used the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms (“health status disparities,” or “socioeconomic disparities in health,” or “healthcare disparities”) and the disease terms (“neoplasms, plasma cell,” “leukemia,” or “lymphoma”).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Collaborative model for addressing health disparities. ‡, Investigators need to address unique characteristics of hematologic malignancies in underrepresented populations via experimental and clinical trials. **, Data sharing and patient and student/trainee outreach and retention. *, Engage in care delivery (e.g., home health assistance and visiting nurses, remote clinical trials, transport provision); increased communication with patients (e.g., text messaging, email, phone, or paper); account for patient experience in process and trial design. #, Determine barriers to care by monitoring billing patterns. §, Expand public health insurance coverage; develop a robust interconnected data infrastructure and improve collaborations across federal government bodies; support funding for development of new therapeutics, outreach programs, and retention of minorities in the workforce. †, Support funding for research and development of new therapeutics, population studies, outreach programs, and retention of minorities in the workforce.
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References

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