Anna Woloszynska, PhD, associate professor of oncology, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, graduate faculty member, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, discusses the role of community outreach in addressing disparities in prostate cancer.

All health disparities, including racial disparities, represent complex problems in prostate cancer, Woloszynska says. Moreover, bridging these gaps requires multidisciplinary input from individuals beyond those doing active research on biological reasons for these disparities. 

As such, community engagement is a critical aspect of addressing disparities in prostate cancer, Woloszynska explains. Community outreach can attract heterogeneous patient populations from underserved groups to studies investigating factors that create disparities. Moreover, because these populations who are affected by gaps in care are often those who do not seek care at academic centers, community engagement is critical to ensure these patients are not missed, Woloszynska says. Understanding the patients who remain in the community setting for care is important from a translational research perspective to ensure different types of patient samples are included in ongoing research efforts, Woloszynska concludes. 

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Anna Woloszynska, PhD, discusses the role of community outreach in addressing disparities in prostate cancer.  



Dr. Woloszynska on the Role of Community Outreach in Addressing Disparities in Prostate Cancer 

Anna Woloszynska, PhD, associate professor of oncology, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, graduate faculty member, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, discusses continued research efforts investigating racial disparities in prostate cancer.

Based upon previous research efforts evaluating racial disparities in prostate cancer, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program is funding an expansion of research being done at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Woloszynska says. Investigators will continue their research by utilizing next-generation technologies with prostate cancer samples from African American and European American patients with prostate cancer in a comparative study, Woloszynska explains.

Unbiased analyses have led researchers to identify intriguing biological differences that are serving as the basis for ongoing research. Researchers received a grant to investigate genetic and epigenetic disparities in this patient population to expand upon, Woloszynska concludes.

Anna Woloszynska, PhD, discusses continued research efforts investigating racial disparities in prostate cancer. 


Dr. Woloszynska on Continued Research Efforts Investigating Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer

Anna Woloszynska, PhD, associate professor of oncology, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, graduate faculty member, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, discusses the need to assess biological factors of racial disparities in prostate cancer.

Racial disparities in prostate cancer have become a topic of interest because they represent a serious public health issue, Woloszynska says. Moreover, it is important to look at this issue in detail from a biological perspective, which hasn’t been sufficiently done to date, Woloszynska adds.

As research on these topics progresses, it is important to look at racial health disparities in African American men with prostate cancer to identify what the biological determinants of the disease, Woloszynska continues. Future research efforts examine why African American men tend to develop prostate cancer earlier in their lifetime compared with European American men, as well as why African American men often present with more aggressive disease at the time of diagnosis, Woloszynska concludes.

Anna Woloszynska, PhD, discusses the need to assess biological factors of racial disparities in prostate cancer. 


Anna Woloszynska, PhD

Articles

Dr. Woloszynska on the Role of Community Outreach in Addressing Disparities in Prostate Cancer

Dr. Woloszynska on Continued Research Efforts Investigating Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer

Dr. Woloszynska on the Need to Assess Biological Factors of Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer