Gates Millennium Scholars Program and American Cancer Society April 12 Announce Health Equity Program

April is minority health awareness month

Goals: impact health policy; help prevent and find cancer early in diverse, multicultural populations; promote ACS careers and volunteerism to GMS

Announcing the first partnership established by the American Cancer Society and the Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS) to provide the opportunity to thousands of Gates scholars and alumni to partner with a non-profit.  The program will empower Gates scholars and alumni as a volunteer workforce to help prevent and find cancer early and to close the gap in cancer incidence and mortality rate among diverse communities.  ACS will promote volunteer and career opportunities at ACS among GMS alumni and current scholars.  The partnership also includes the opportunity for GMS alumni to engage with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the non-profit, non-partisan advocacy affiliate of the Society to make cancer a top public policy priority.  

 The Gates Millennium Scholars Program, launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 1999 to promote diversity in the fields of public health, education and STEM careers, selects 1,000 talented students annually to receive scholarships. The GMS currently has 12,000 alumni and 5,000 active college scholars.  

 WHO:      Tommy D. Preston, Jr., Esq. President of the GMS Alumni Association

Otis Brawley,  M.D., Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society

WHEN:    Saturday, April 12, 2014, 1 p.m. (Keynote address by Dr. Brawley)

 WHERE:  Westfield’s Marriott Washington Dulles,  14750 Conference Center Drive, Chantilly, VA

Key Points about Cancer Incidence and Mortality Rates Across Diverse Populations in the U.S.:

·         African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest sur­vival of any racial and ethnic group in the U.S. for most cancers. Although the overall racial disparity in cancer death rates is decreasing, in 2009, the death rate for all cancers combined continued to be 31% higher in African American men and 15% higher in African American women than in white men and women, respectively.

·         Incidence and death rates are lower among Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites for all cancers combined, and for the most common cancers (prostate, female breast, colorectal, and lung).

·         Cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics, accounting for 21% of deaths overall and 15% of deaths in children.  Cancers for which rates are higher in His­panics include stomach, cervix, liver, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and gallbladder. Overall, about 1 in 2 Hispanic men and 1 in 3 Hispanic women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. The lifetime probability of dying from cancer is 1 in 5 for Hispanic men and 1 in 6 for Hispanic women. (Note: Most cancer data in the U.S. are reported for Hispanics as an aggregate group, which masks important differences that exist between Hispanic sub­populations according to country of origin.)

·         Death rates for kidney cancer in American Indian and Alaska Native men and women are higher than in any other racial or ethnic population.

·         Leading cancer sites for Asian Americans are lung, colorectal, breast (for women) and liver (for men.)