The American Cancer Society and Flatiron Health Announce Recipients of Real-World Data Impact Award

ATLANTA and NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Cancer Society (ACS) and Flatiron Health announced today that the 2021 Real-World Data Impact Awards will support research into health disparities among patients with advanced pancreatic and breast cancer.

This year marks the third year of the joint grant-making program, under which ACS-funded researchers have the opportunity to apply for additional funding and access to Flatiron real-world data.

Eligible applicants are ACS awardees experienced in health-services and observational research who are encouraged to submit proposals that address health disparities.

The 2021 grants have been awarded to:

• Shannon Lynch, PhD, assistant professor of Cancer Prevention and Control at The Research Institute of Fox Chase Cancer Center, who will study patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, investigating possible differences in time to first treatment, number of lines of chemotherapy, first and second line therapy regimens and hospice use by race, ethnicity and insurance status.
• Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, FASCO, professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia University, who will study how the use, toxicity and efficacy of oral antineoplastic drugs impacts Black and Hispanic patients, compared to Non-Hispanic-white patients, with advanced breast cancer.
• Roger Anderson, PhD, professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia, who will explore patterns of care related to tumor, patient and demographic characteristics focused on the use of CDK4/6i for hormone-receptor-positive patients with metastatic breast cancer.

"Flatiron Health is honored to partner with ACS to leverage Flatiron's EHR-derived real-world data to advance research toward better and more equitable cancer treatments and outcomes," said Rebecca Miksad, MD, MPH, senior medical director at Flatiron Health. "RWD can help the field learn more about health disparities to inform effective action to address them."

"Cancer is a disease that affects everyone, but we know that cancer doesn't affect everyone equally and that some groups bear a disproportionate cancer burden due to disparities," said Dr. William Cance, American Cancer Society Chief Medical and Scientific Officer. "The research grants awarded by Flatiron Health will use real world data to focus on the critical area of cancer disparities and help identify ways to ensure high-quality cancer care for everyone."

The 2021 Real-World Data Impact Award grantees will each receive $75,000 and access to a Flatiron de-identified dataset derived from the health records of patients with cancer treated in both community clinics and academic medical centers specific to their research questions. Additionally, awardees will have access to Flatiron and ACS clinical and methodological experts. 

Recipients of the 2020 Real-World Data Impact Awards, including Siran M. Koroukian-Hajinazarian, PhD, and Kale Minal, MD, recently both had research published in, respectively, ASCO's Journal of Clinical Oncology and AACR's Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The joint grant-making program supports Flatiron's and ACS' goals of accelerating cancer research and improving treatment and outcomes for patients.

About Flatiron
Flatiron Health is a healthtech company dedicated to helping cancer centers thrive and deliver better care for patients today and tomorrow. Through clinical and data science, we translate patient experiences into real-world evidence to improve treatment, inform policy, and advance research. Cancer is smart. Together, we can be smarter. Flatiron Health is an independent affiliate of the Roche Group. Flatiron.com @FlatironHealth

About ACS
The American Cancer Society is on a mission to free the world from cancer. We invest in lifesaving research, provide 24/7 information and support, and work to ensure that individuals in every community have access to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. For more information, visit cancer.org.

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SOURCE American Cancer Society