Expert Analysis: Black Americans Have Highest Cancer Mortality Rates In The United States

For Black History Month, Hackensack Meridian Health offers experts on some of the reasons behind higher cancer rates in the Black community and how to reverse the trends.

TEAM-UP Together Awards 31 Scholarships to African American Students in Physics, Astronomy

TEAM-UP Together is pleased to announce its first cohort of scholars, 31 African American students who will each receive $10,000 for the 2022-23 academic year. The scholarship program aims to reduce financial barriers that prevent many Black students from completing their undergraduate education in physics and astronomy. A collective action initiative, TEAM-UP Together is a partnership between the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the Society of Physics Students. TEAM-UP Together is sponsored by the Simons Foundation International.

For people of color in L.A., misinformation, past injustices contribute to vaccine hesitancy

New UCLA research finds that misinformation and politicization, awareness of past injustices involving medical research, and fears about the inequitable distribution of vaccines all contributed to hesitancy to be vaccinated among Los Angeles’ People of Color.

Study of Cancer Patients and COVID-19 Highlights Health Disparities

Findings from a study led by researchers at Henry Ford Cancer Institute, in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health, the Food and Drug Administration and Syapse®, show an elevated risk for severe COVID-19 effects or death among patients with cancer, with the highest risk being among low-income and Black patients.

Breast Cancer Study: African Americans Not Experiencing Complete Response to Extent Other Groups Are

Researchers at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center led the largest study to date to suggest an improving trend in pathologic complete response rates over time for U.S. cancer patients of various races. The team’s findings, documented in a poster presentation at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology virtual annual meeting (abstract 575), show that African Americans are more likely than patients from any other group to have remaining disease following breast cancer treatment.

Penn Nursing-led Philly Team Awarded $1.4 Million NIH Grant to Expand COVID-19 Outreach

José A. Bauermeister, PhD, and Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, are leading one of 10 new research teams from across the country that received National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totaling $14 million to extend the reach of the NIH’s Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities. The Philly CEAL team was awarded $1.4 million from the NIH with additional support from Penn Nursing and The University of Pennsylvania, bringing the total for the alliance to $1.53 million.

Roswell Park, Wilmot Cancer Institute Collaborate on First Large Study of Immunotherapy in Black Cancer Patients

A new collaboration between two Western New York cancer research leaders will help oncologists learn whether Black and white cancer patients respond differently to a game-changing immunotherapy treatment, and seeks to improve the safety and effectiveness of these newer drugs in diverse populations.

More evidence is urgently needed on opioid use in Black communities

Although the prevalence of opioid use among Black people is comparatively low, the rate of opioid deaths has increased the sharpest and fastest among that population in recent years, according to an article in the March/April issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

American Institute of Physics to Host Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, Raise Awareness of Black Physicists

To highlight and enhance the awareness of Black physicists, the American Institute of Physics is partnering with Black in Physics to host a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon to address inaccuracies and incomplete information on the popular resource website about African American and Black scientists. The event will take place during the last week of Black History Month, Feb. 22-26, and bring together volunteers in the physics community to build and edit Wikipedia pages about Black physicists.

Mount Sinai Experts Address the Biological Causes of Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer

African Americans have higher rates of prostate cancer and are more likely to die from the disease than other groups in the United States, likely due to socioeconomic factors, healthcare access problems, and tumor biology.

Why So Few Black Skiers and Ballet Dancers?

A new book, The Color of Culture, is the first to show with statistical rigor the much lower participation rates of Black vs. white Americans in a nine recreational and cultural activities, from golf to painting. It uses statistical techniques to show that systemic racism explains the discrepancy.

Historical Racial & Ethnic Health Inequities Account for Disproportionate COVID-19 Impact

A new Viewpoint piece published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines the ways in which COVID-19 disproportionately impacts historically disadvantaged communities of color in the United States, and how baseline inequalities in our health system are amplified by the pandemic. The authors also discuss potential solutions.

New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Celebrates 200th Anniversary and Honors its Pioneering Black Physician

Hosts Dedication for a Former Slave Who Became Country’s First African American Eye and Ear Specialist

Virginia Tech’s Wornie Reed helps lead nationwide outreach effort, Coronavirus Urban Report

The impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of ethnic minority groups is still emerging; however, current statistics suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among people of color.  “Many black residents live in segregated neighborhoods that lack job opportunities,…

Paul Fleming & William Lopez: Why Hispanics are at higher risk to suffer health, economic consequences

FACULTY Q&AU.S. Hispanics are more likely than their white white counterparts to be affected by coronavirus independently of their immigration status. Two University of Michigan School of Public Health experts explain why, and offer some solutions the federal government could use to mitigate these negative consequences.Paul J.

Heising-Simons Foundation Grant Helps AIP Transform TEAM-UP Report into Action Plan

The American Institute of Physics is pleased to announce that a $200,000 grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation will fund workshops to help reach the goal of doubling the number of African American physics and astronomy undergraduate degree recipients by the year 2030. AIP’s hosting these workshops is an important next step in implementing evidence-based recommendations from AIP’s expert report produced by The National Task Force to Elevate African American Representation in Undergraduate Physics & Astronomy, also known as TEAM-UP.

Bita Kash, PhD, Researcher with Houston Methodist, available to discuss COVID-19 and African American communities

Bita Kash, PhD, Director of the Center for Outcomes Research at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, is available to discuss why African Americans are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in many areas across the United States. “Rates of obesity, diabetes and…

AIP Task Force Brings Diversity, Inclusion, Systemic Change Report to APS March Meeting

At the American Physical Society March Meeting in Denver, five members of the TEAM-UP task force, chartered and funded by the American Institute of Physics, will outline how faculties, departments and professional societies can promote sweeping changes in physics higher education. Evidence-based recommendations from AIP’s TEAM-UP report will be discussed to highlight the need for increasing the number of African American students obtaining bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy.

Task Force Recommendations Outline Changes Needed to Increase African American Physics and Astronomy Students

Due to long-term and systemic issues leading to the consistent exclusion of African Americans in physics and astronomy, a task force is recommending sweeping changes and calling for awareness into the number and experiences of African American students studying the fields. “The Time Is Now: Systemic Changes to Increase African Americans with Bachelor’s Degrees in Physics and Astronomy” discusses the factors responsible for the success or failure of African American students in physics and astronomy.

Teaching Preschool Caregivers about Healthy Behaviors May Promote Healthier Lifestyle in Some High-Risk Groups

Study Shows Vascular Ultrasounds and Adhering to Interventional Education in Underserved Communities can Improve Health among Parents and School Staff

Suicide attempts among black adolescents on the rise

While suicide attempts decreased overall among U.S. adolescents between 1991 and 2017, they increased by 73% among black adolescents, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.“The rise in suicide rates among black youth can most likely be traced back to an internalization of issues around structural racism in America, along with a lack of coping mechanisms and lack of investment in mental health services in black communities,” said Sean Joe, the Benjamin E.