No One Missed: Empowering Lung Cancer Patients with Biomarker Insights

Science with a Twist

⚡ There's a diversity mismatch in the oncology workforce. One of the biggest challenges in the oncology space is a lack of diversity in the workforce. The population of the United States is very diverse, while the oncology field is not. Dr. Upal Basu Roy says, "We know that the United States is very diverse. As we speak, the population is very diverse, and we have about 12% African Americans in the population — about 18% who identify as Hispanic/Latinx — and 3% of the population who identify as American Indians and Alaska natives. But is that diversity reflected in the oncology workforce? Absolutely not. So we have a problem. So if you look at the latest statistics from the ASCO workforce report in 2020, only 5% of oncologists identify as Hispanic/Latinx, 3% as Black or African American, and 0.1% as American Indian and Alaska native. So we have this mismatch."

⚡ Patients have better health outcomes when treated by doctors who look like them. Dr. Upal Basu Roy explains, "The population is very diverse, but the workforce is not diverse. So keeping that in mind, we created the Health Equity and Inclusiveness Research Awards specifically to foster minority scientists. Now you can ask me, ‘Why is that important?’ It is fundamentally important to have clinicians who look like patients because there's very good research that's shown that patients have better outcomes when they're treated by doctors who look like them. And patients are way more inclined to participate in clinical trials when those trials are being offered to them by clinicians who look like them."

⚡ ‘No One Missed’ is an inclusive lung cancer campaign. ‘No One Missed’ is a community-led campaign driven by the LUNGevity Foundation. Dr. Upal Basu Roy talks about the campaign's main goals. He says, "As a scientist, I focus on science and innovation. But as a patient advocate, I focus on access. Because I think we need to keep in mind that science is a public good. Innovation is a public good. And we, as a patient advocacy group, need to make sure that the science we fund today reaches patients tomorrow. And biomarker testing targeted therapies are a huge piece of the treatment arsenal of lung cancer, and we, as a foundation, are committed to making sure that these innovative approaches treat patients no matter where they're diagnosed, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, their race and ethnicity, where they live, or their socioeconomic status."