Research Group

Health Equity

Data demonstrates that historically under-represented groups are more likely to die of cancer and less likely to enroll in clinical trials. Further, there are significant gaps in marginalized communities feeling accepted, valued, and heard in our medical and research systems. These systemic shortcomings contribute to ongoing health inequities among our patients and as such, Our Mission is to “Work together within pediatric neuro-oncology to improve access to care for our patients, expand belonging within our community, and provide sustainable data-driven solutions.”

The goals of our group are to:

  • Collect, analyze, and broadly share data driven findings to report on what we currently know about health equity among our patient population and the providers and researchers that make up our teams – with the ultimate goal of guiding interventional strategies that advance patient outcomes,
  •  Provide resources/education to our internal PNOC and CBTN communities, keeping others up to date on impacting literature, current events, and presentations or talks on health equity,
  • Ensure all members of the PNOC and CBTN communities feel a sense of belonging and acceptance.

We have divided efforts as a working group to address each of the above goals and to make a larger collective impact by addressing up to date data collection and sharing; ongoing, real-time education for our team members; and active outreach.

Since it beginning in July 2020, our team has:

  • Hosted educational discussions on health equity relevant topics open to all PNOC/CBTN members,
  • Completed translation of informed consents and clinical trial education materials across both interventional and non-interventional, biology studies to accommodate languages across the globe,
  • Published data on clinical outcomes, treatment, and clinical trial enrollment patterns of ~1500 patients with central nervous tumors previously enrolled on PNOC or CBTN studies, representative of patients from numerous socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds,
  • Embedded health equity assessments into new clinical trial openings.

Featured Researchers

Cassie Kline, MD, MAS

Principal Investigator, PNOC Co-Project Leader, Director of Data Quality & Integration

Angela Waanders, MD

Co-Principal Investigator, Pediatric Neuro-Oncologist

Tom Davidson, MD

Co-Principal Investigator, Pediatric Neuro-Oncologist