, the Sharon A. Spencer Distinguished Endowed Chair in Translational Radiation Oncology, is lead author on “

Haploinsufficiency of NFKBIA reshapes the epigenome antipodal to the IDH mutation and imparts disease fate in diffuse gliomas

This groundbreaking discovery not only marks a significant milestone in our understanding of diffuse gliomas but also paves the way for improved predictions of disease outcomes and the development of targeted treatment approaches.

Bredel, who is also director of Functional Brain Radiosurgery and head of Brain Tumor Research in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine’s 

, reports they have successfully identified and characterized a novel tumor suppressor gene known as NFKBIA in different populations of adult brain tumors, specifically diffuse gliomas. Their findings demonstrate a significant correlation between the loss of NFKBIA and poor prognosis in patients. Moreover, they have observed genome-wide patterns that are either contradictory to or partially resemble two other crucial gene mutations: the IDH mutation in adult gliomas and the H3K27M mutation in pediatric gliomas.

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A groundbreaking discovery by Markus Bredel, MD, PhD, and colleagues not only marks a significant milestone in our understanding of diffuse gliomas but also paves the way for improved predictions of disease outcomes and the development of targeted treatment approaches.

Bredel Findings Address Understanding of Diffuse Gliomas

Francine Walton, MPH, is a program director in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach & Engagement. Sharing the importance of cancer screening, early detection, and access to care is all in a day’s work as she leads the outreach and community education programs. But it’s also a personal priority. Her mother, a four-time cancer survivor, has had a profound influence on Walton’s career path. In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked Walton to share how her mother has shaped her perspective on the cancer journey, including the importance of hope and resilience in the face of adversity.

Q: Francine, you call your mother “a walking miracle.” Tell us a little about her cancer journey.

My mom was diagnosed with Stage 4b Hodgkin’s lymphoma, two primary breast cancers (one in each breast) and endometrial cancer. She is thriving as a cancer survivor and has no evidence of cancer now. Her first cancer diagnosis was in 1995 and treatment for the last cancer diagnosis ended in 2015.

After your mother’s first diagnosis, what were your thoughts? As a daughter, how were you able to help and support your mother? Did your professional life inform how you approached her care?

My mom’s first cancer diagnosis was Stage 4b Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So, unlike the other cancers which were caught in very early stages, her first cancer diagnosis was very overwhelming. I had just moved back to Birmingham after graduating from my master’s program in Atlanta and was living in on my own. When my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I immediately moved out of my apartment and moved home with my parents and brother, who was 12 years old at the time, so I could support my mom and help my parents with my brother and all his school and sports activities. I had only worked in the cancer field at American Cancer Society for six months or so at the time, so my approach to my mom’s cancer diagnosis was more informed by the breast cancer journey that my aunt went through 13 years before my mom’s first diagnosis. She was my mom’s youngest sister and fought breast cancer for seven years. Everything that my aunt experienced impacted how I supported and helped my mom and family.

I also had the privilege of doing a marathon in my mom’s honor with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program in Anchorage, Alaska in 1997. 26.2 miles!

Your mother has survived breast cancer twice, as well as endometrial cancer and Stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That’s a daunting list. What can you tell us about her ability to persevere? Did she do anything special that was key to her recovery or mindset?


I wholeheartedly believe that my mom persevered through her cancer journey and is thriving now because of her faith in God and her beautiful, positive, and loving spirit. She’s “our angel on earth.” My mom knows no stranger and loves helping others. She also had the best support team of family members and friends. I don’t think that she went to one chemo treatment without a friend or family member with her.

Another major key to my mom’s recovery was her medical team at UAB – her nurses (thank God for nurses), her oncologist, the staff who brought her food and cleaned her room. Everyone at UAB encouraged and supported her throughout her journey. I recently learned that the person who took my mom’s vitals every morning when she was in the BMT unit at UAB would sing songs to encourage my mom and lift her spirits. She was surrounded by loving, positive and caring people.

She also got counseling. There was a time when my mom just didn’t want to eat anything at a point during her cancer treatment. It was a very challenging time for her, and she was depressed. My mom made an appointment to see a therapist and went to her first session. When my mom walked out of that first counseling session, she said that her stomach started rumbling and she was starving. She stopped at the first place she could find and got a cheeseburger, french fries and a Dr. Pepper – and loved it! We have to make asking for help and seeking counseling a norm.

Tell us about the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement, where you work. Why is this office a critical component to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB?


The vision of O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is “LIFE without cancer.” The Office of Community Outreach & Engagement (COE) is the cancer center’s trusted connection to communities with the highest burden of cancer and those most in need of cancer screening, treatment and other support. The only way to achieve “LIFE without cancer” is to lower the cancer burden in communities at highest risk. This is what we do in COE each and every day – literally.

COE staff and more than 400 Community Health Advisors (CHAs) who live and work throughout Alabama and Mississippi are trusted members of their local communities. Our county coordinators and CHAs are THE best messengers to promote cancer screenings, early detection, cancer prevention, and research opportunities and connect people to the services they need to reduce the burden of cancer.

Our office also provides authentic spaces for community members to truly engage with UAB clinicians and researchers face-to-face and virtually, which leads to the development of new priorities for the cancer center and other initiatives driven by the community.

You were born in Washington, D.C., but moved as a young girl to Montgomery. Then you worked at UAB with the Cancer Center and the School of Public Health, and later at MD Anderson in Houston. What drew you back to UAB as a program director in the Office for Community Outreach & Engagement?


Being a part of the Deep South Network for Cancer Control with the Cancer Center more than 20 years ago was one of my most valuable work experiences. And I love and truly believe in the Community Health Advisor and Community Health Worker models. Training trusted natural helpers on lowering cancer risk in their communities through education and facilitating access to life-saving cancer screening tests and quality cancer care, and promoting tobacco-free living, the HPV vaccine and healthy lifestyles works! Having the opportunity to come back, continue that work and serve on a team of passionate, dedicated staff throughout Alabama and Mississippi was all the motivation that I needed to come back home.

Your mother was a founding member of the Angel Squad, a group of volunteers who provide hope and comfort to breast cancer patients. What sorts of messages did she share?


Shout out to the Angel Squad! 😊 My mom loved volunteering with the Angel Squad. Some messages that my mom shared with other breast cancer patients:

Bring someone with you for support and to take notes during doctor visits.

Get as much information as possible about your cancer diagnosis.

Find something to do that makes you feel good during your cancer journey and after.

You are getting the best cancer care at UAB.

It’s almost Mother’s Day. You too are a mother. What does this special day mean to you?

Mother’s Day is a VERY special day for me. It’s a time of celebration and good memories. I am tremendously blessed to have a mother like I have, so I celebrate who she is, her cancer journey and that I get to talk to and learn from her almost every day. I am nowhere near as amazing as my mother, but I am the mom that I am because of her.

I also get to celebrate all the other mothers in my life – my sister, aunts, cousins, colleagues, and so many wonderful friends who are moms. It’s the toughest and most rewarding role of my life. And I get to remember and honor my grandmothers and my aunt who are no longer with us. All the moms in my life have influenced the career path that led me into cancer prevention and control and serving communities. Mothers love us, guide us and are our first teachers.

That’s what being a mom brings to the role that I play in the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement. I love all the communities that we serve. I have the opportunity to guide and support an amazing team. And I get to provide education on ways to lower cancer risks so everyone has the opportunity to achieve optimal health.

Francine Walton, MPH, has more than 25 years of experience in public health leadership. She received a B.S. in biology from Howard University and a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University. Prior to her current role as Director of Outreach and Community Education with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Walton was the Deputy Director of Cancer Programs for the Georgia Department of Public Health and served as a Program Director at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She has a passion for serving communities and advancing health equity through authentic community and stakeholder engagement.

Francine Walton, MPH, shares how her mother has shaped her perspective on the cancer journey, including the importance of hope and resilience in the face of adversity.

Mother & Daughter: How Cancer Shaped the Career Path of the Office for Community Outreach & Engagement’s Program Director Francine Walton, MPH

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health and the American Cancer Society, recently launched Wipe Out Cervical Cancer ­— a statewide action plan to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Alabama.

Cervical cancer is preventable through vaccination against cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus, periodic cervical screenings and, if necessary, treatment of cervical lesions before they develop into cancer. Yet, Alabama ranks third in mortality and incidence of cervical cancer in the United States with great disparities across races and counties.

“This is a major win and a step forward for the women in the state of Alabama. We are so grateful and excited to be able to work side by side with the Alabama Department of Public Health to launch this campaign and serve as true leaders and advocates for cervical cancer prevention and elimination in the United States,” said Warner Huh, MD, chair of the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Wipe Out Cervical Cancer represents a road map with evidence-based strategies to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Alabama by 2033. Some of the strategies include providing the community with information and support to get children and teenagers vaccinated against HPV, helping women get screened, and offering support for follow-up care in the event of abnormal results.

“The identified strategies are evidence-based and not limited to education only,” said Isabel Scarinci, PhD, vice chair for Global and Rural Health for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “It is also important that we make sure parents know where to get their children vaccinated and women know where they can get screened for cervical cancer. Women also need to be assured that they will have support and care in the event of abnormal cervical cancer screening results.”

The plan is the result of a 2022 summit, hosted by the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where primary care providers and public health leaders representing 42 of the 67 Alabama counties came together to identify barriers, facilitators and solutions to cervical cancer prevention and control in Alabama.

In addition to UAB, Wipe Out Cervical Cancer partners include TogetHer for Health and Rotary Club of Birmingham.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health and the American Cancer Society, recently launched Wipe Out Cervical Cancer ­— a statewide action plan to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Alabama.

UAB Plays Major Role in Launching Statewide Action Plan to Eliminate Cervical Cancer

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB is pleased to announce that Rebecca Arend, M.D., MSPH, will join Drs. Narendra Wajapeyee and Suzanne Lapi as Co-Leader of the O’Neal Experimental Therapeutics Research Program.

Arend is an associate professor and physician scientist in the 

 in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine. Arend received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine; she completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and her fellowship in gynecologic oncology at UAB before joining the faculty here in 2015. Arend also received a Master of Science in Public Heath degree in clinical-translational research from UAB.

Arend currently oversees translational research in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology. Additionally, she is the co-chair of the Gynecologic Oncology Working Group responsible for maintaining the division’s clinical trials portfolio, and she is chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) within the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has served as the lead principal investigator on three industry-sponsored/GOG Foundation national and international trials, which included a Phase II study using the WNT pathway modulator – DKN-01 as a monotherapy or in combination with paclitaxel. Arend is a panel member for the NCCN guidelines for Endometrial Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Vulvar Cancer, and Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia. In addition, Arend has co-directed the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)’s Emerging Clinical Trialists Course for six years.

Arend’s expertise in investigator-initiated clinical trials will be an excellent addition to the leadership of the Experimental Therapeutics program. Please join us in welcoming her to this role.

Arend Named New Co-Leader of Experimental Therapeutics Program

 has been awarded a five-year Cancer Center Core Support Grant of $27,477,570 from the National Cancer Institute. This prestigious federal grant renewal provides support for UAB’s cancer research program through 2026.

“We are honored that the NCI renewed our core grant for the 10th time, bringing us to more than five decades of continuous funding. This reflects the many important accomplishments of O’Neal investigators and staff over the past 50 years,” said Barry Sleckman, MD, PhD, director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It sets the stage for our important work going forward as we continue to focus on reducing cancer burdens and disparities in the state of Alabama.”

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Alabama and in a four-state region. It is also one of the first eight NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States. Just four years ago, it became the beneficiary of a $30 million naming gift from the O’Neal family and shareholders — UAB’s largest single gift at that time — enabling it to transition from the previously named UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB.

The grant renewal process is rigorous and competitive, requiring a grant application that takes months to prepare. The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center renewal application received the highest impact score in its history, resulting in a ranking of “outstanding” from the NCI. Within the center, the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program received a rank of “exceptional,” while the NCI also bestowed high scores on O’Neal’s overall cancer relevance and the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement.

The NCI CCSG grant complements more than $50 million annually in cancer-focused research grants that fund O’Neal scientists; but it is foundational to achieving the center’s mission to advance our understanding of cancer to improve prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship for all people.

Under the leadership of Sleckman, who joined the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center in January 2020 after serving as the associate director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is a significant part of UAB’s economic footprint, with the NCI CCSG constituting the second-largest grant on campus. It enables hundreds of O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center members to continue to advance innovative cancer research, improve cutting-edge patient care, and expand community outreach and access to care, while recruiting and training the next generation of cancer researchers and clinicians.

Last year, the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center enrolled 439 participants in clinical trials, which is one way physicians and scientists actively participate in efforts to improve cancer therapies, diagnostic techniques and prevention strategies. Doctors at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center offer more than 200 cancer-related clinical trials that explore a wide array of therapies, diagnostics and preventive options, along with community-based trials in cancer survivorship research.

“Today many patients on clinical trials are experiencing remarkable, disease-altering effects on cancers that were uniformly lethal just yesterday,” Sleckman said. “For this reason, offering cancer patients clinical trial opportunities is really the standard of care for cancer at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. Our CCSG ensures that this can continue to be a top priority, and we look forward to expanding our efforts in this endeavor.”

“The center’s basic science and translational research programs are at the forefront of improving cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, including leading efforts in triple-negative breast cancer, multiple myeloma, prostate cancer and skin cancer,” said Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, FACS, dean of the UAB 

, CEO of the UAB Health System and CEO of the UAB/Ascension St. Vincent’s Alliance. “The NCI support grant is the most prestigious federal grant that can be earned by an institution with significant cancer research and patient care programs. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the hard work that went into this grant renewal process — one carried out in a virtual environment for the first time, no less. Congratulations on the renewal of this elite designation and the funding to pursue your mission.”

O’Neal researchers are organized into four thematic research programs: Cancer Biology and Immunology, Experimental Therapeutics, Neuro-Oncology, and Cancer Control and Population Science. Program research is supported by shared resources from across the UAB campus; 15 disease-specific working groups are focused on translational clinical research. Eight cancer management teams make up the O’Neal Cancer Service Line, the multidisciplinary patient-care arm of the cancer center.

Of particular importance to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, a coordinated effort to advance programmatic research focused on seven cancers that present significant burdens to Alabama’s rural and medically underserved communities. These include breast, colon, prostate, brain, lung and cervical cancers, as well as multiple myeloma. This office aims to address disparities in cancer research and care, providing cancer prevention, screening and care education in most Alabama counties. With a focus on the 26 counties with the greatest cancer burdens, this work is no small effort in a state that ranks No. 8 in the country for cancer mortality.

NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers must reapply for their core grant renewal and designation every five years. The NCI defines its Cancer Centers Program as a means of recognizing centers that meet rigorous standards for transdisciplinary, state-of-the-art research focused on developing new and better approaches to preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. An NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center is one in which cutting-edge cancer treatments are complemented by research conducted in basic science, in clinical science and/or prevention, and in cancer control and population science, but with added depth and breadth, spanning across disciplines to bridge scientific areas of study.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only 52 NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States. This grant renewal award coincides with the 50th anniversary of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, which received its first core grant and NCI designation in 1972. The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center later received its second NCI designation when it was named one of the first eight NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in 1973.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has been awarded a five-year Cancer Center Core Support Grant of $27,477,570 from the National Cancer Institute.

O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB awarded $27.5 Million by National Cancer Institute

On May 3, Casey Weaver, MD, the Wyatt and Susan Haskell Endowed Chair for Medical Excellence in the Department of Pathology, was elected to the prestigious and esteemed National Academy of Sciences (NAS)—one of the highest honors offered to scientists in the U.S.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, non-profit society of accomplished scholars who provide independent, objective counsel to the nation on matters related to science and technology.

Members are nominated by their peers to recognize their distinguished, outstanding, and ongoing achievements in original research and contributions to scientific and/or technological progression.

“Science is a team sport, and this honor is a tribute to the incredible people I've had the good fortune to work with at UAB—especially the trainees,” said Weaver. “I’m pleased that the work this acknowledges was done at UAB over the last thirty years. It’s truly homegrown.”

For over three decades, Weaver’s research has focused on immunology, specifically T cells, which develop from stem cells in the bone marrow and help protect the body from infection and cancer. Weaver has studied the mechanisms by which CD4+ T cells control adaptive and innate immunity, including but not limited to mechanisms controlling the development of different T-cell subsets and the role of T cells in maintaining immune homeostasis in the face of a large, diverse intestinal microbiota. His laboratory led in the discovery of the TH17 pathway that resulted in extension of the original TH1–TH2 hypothesis and stimulated a new appreciation of the role of this pathway in host protection against infection and its contribution to immune pathogenesis.

One of his most recent studies was published in the journal 

 titled “A nonredundant role for T cell-derived interleukin 22 in antibacterial defense of colonic crypts.” Weaver and his team examined the contributions of the innate lymphoid cell (ILC) and T cell-derived IL-22 during 

 (C.r) infection using mice that both report IL-22 expression and allow lineage-specific deletion. These findings address a central, unresolved issue regarding the coordination of innate and adaptive immunity and the specialization of innate lymphoid cells and T cells in defense of the intestinal tract.

This work will ultimately advance medical understanding of disease, improving patient outcomes and therapies.

Weaver was among 120 new members and 30 international members inducted to NAS, bringing the total number of active members to 2,512 and the total number of international members to 517.

“Dr. Casey Weaver’s election to the National Academy of Sciences is a huge accomplishment for our Academic Medical Center and for UAB as an institution,” said Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, FACS, dean of the Heersink School of Medicine, CEO of the UAB Health System and CEO of the UAB/Ascension St. Vincent’s Alliance. “This is one of the highest honors a scientist can receive, and we are very proud of his continued work and success.”

“We are extremely proud of Casey Weaver in his receipt of this distinguished honor,” said George Netto, MD, Robert and Ruth Anderson Endowed Chair in the Department of Pathology. “Dr. Weaver has been an integral contributor to the research landscape at UAB and internationally, and this recognition by the National Academy of Sciences comes as little surprise to those who know him and his work. He is a scientist of distinction, whose research has broadened our base of knowledge in immunology. This award is a fitting acknowledgment of his outstanding work over the last 30 years at UAB. We congratulate Casey on this incredible milestone.”

Weaver, who graduated medical school from the University of Florida, trained in pathology during his residency at Barnes and Jewish Hospitals at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also did post-doctoral training in immunology. Weaver joined the Department of Pathology at UAB in 1992. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed articles in outstanding high impact and prestigious journals including 

, one of the leading immunology textbooks. He has won the HudsonAlpha Prize for Outstanding Innovation (2009) and was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology as a fellow (2014).

In addition to his endowed chair in Pathology, Weaver holds appointments in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Department of Medicine, the Department of Neurology, and the Department of Microbiology.

NAS is one of the oldest academies in the U.S. and was founded in 1863 at the height of the Civil War when a small group of 49 scientists drafted legislation to incorporate the academy into the federal government. It was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. Since, NAS has expanded and grown, establishing the National Research Council during World War I, the National Academy of Engineering in 1964, and the Institute of Medicine in 1970—which later became the National Academy of Medicine.

Weaver and the other new members will be formally inducted to NAS during the academy’s 159th annual meeting next year.

Casey Weaver, MD, the Wyatt and Susan Haskell Endowed Chair for Medical Excellence in the Department of Pathology, was elected to the prestigious and esteemed National Academy of Sciences.

Weaver Elected to Prestigious National Academy of Sciences

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced the creation of the Advancing Inclusive Research® Site Alliance. This coalition of clinical research sites will partner with Genentech to advance the representation of diverse patient populations in the company’s oncology clinical trials, test recruitment and retention approaches, and establish best practices that can be leveraged across the industry to help achieve health equity for people with cancer.

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California; Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson, San Antonio, Texas; 

, Birmingham, Alabama; and West Cancer Center, Memphis, Tennessee, make up the Alliance’s founding partners. Each of the centers will focus on enabling the participation of historically underrepresented patient groups in Genentech’s oncology trials, working collaboratively to share key learnings and explore innovative ways of increasing clinical trial access for every patient who might benefit. The Alliance also plans to expand to more research centers and additional disease areas in the near future, with the ultimate goal of building a robust and sustainable clinical research ecosystem that actively includes diverse patient groups.

Clinical research that does not reflect real-world disease demographics is not always generalizable to all patient populations, and a lack of robust representative data can significantly impede medical and scientific advances overall. Today, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. patients participate in clinical trials, and of those, only 5-15 percent are non-Caucasian—even though people of those ethnicities make up nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population. In breast cancer, for example, Black women have an approximately 40 percent higher mortality rate compared to Caucasian women, yet represent only 6 percent of women in clinical trials studying the disease. Distrust in the health care system, lack of access to nearby trial sites and insufficient engagement with underserved communities are among the known drivers of these disparities.

“We must engage differently with disenfranchised patient communities if we want to ensure the most representative and effective clinical research and achieve optimal treatment outcomes for all,” said Quita Highsmith, chief diversity officer at Genentech. “Through the Advancing Inclusive Research Site Alliance, we’re partnering with highly experienced and trusted research centers located in areas with higher Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations to meet patients where they are and take practical and meaningful strides toward eliminating the systemic inequities of our health care system.”

“There are many barriers to participation in clinical trials,” said 

, Ph.D., director of City of Hope’s Division of Health Equities. “We must be proactive and intentional in addressing the barriers that keep underrepresented groups from participating in clinical trials so that breakthrough cancer discoveries can be more equitably distributed across all populations.”

“Hispanics represent 60 percent of San Antonio’s population, and in areas of South Texas, 90 percent of our population,” said Ruben Mesa, M.D., FACP, executive director of the Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson. “It is imperative that we advance treatment, learning how new cancer therapies may help the Latinos of South Texas. This is part of our mandate to bring more cutting-edge therapies through cancer clinical trials to South Texas cancer patients. Our participation in this alliance will enable us to increase the number of Hispanics in clinical trials and develop information to improve the recruitment efforts of centers nationwide.”

“One of our goals at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is to eliminate the threat of cancer to our community by providing access to high-quality cancer prevention and care to everyone,” said Monica L. Baskin, Ph.D., associate director for Community Outreach and Engagement at O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. “We know that health outcomes are not the same across populations in our community, with racial/ethnic minorities often having worse outcomes than other groups. We’re committed to identifying institutional racism and addressing its impacts on cancer-related health inequities through our participation in the Alliance.”

“We are committed to giving all patients in our community access to the treatments that help them achieve better health outcomes,” said Greg Vidal, M.D., Ph.D., medical oncologist at West Cancer Center. “This means having a full understanding of treatment efficacy among all the communities we serve. We’re joining this alliance to help further the understanding of and participation in clinical trials among underrepresented patients in our community and across the country and to find solutions to serve them better.”

The Advancing Inclusive Research Site Alliance is an example of progress against Genentech’s 2025 Diversity and Inclusion Commitments, which include incorporating population-specific assessments and inclusive research action plans for all of its clinical development programs. Addressing health inequity and inclusion in research is increasingly central to Genentech’s mission to improve health outcomes, and the company seeks to deepen engagement with patient groups, health care providers, payers, government stakeholders and others to scale and advance health equity for all patients.

This coalition of clinical research sites will partner with Genentech to advance the representation of diverse patient populations in the company’s oncology clinical trials.

O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham