Why are some people more likely to get cancer, and to die from it than others? Rural Americans, for instance, are 18% more likely to die from cancer overall, and Black women are 35% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women.That's according to a recent report from the American Association for Cancer Research, or AACR.Cancer disparity researchers study these gaps and how to close them.
Their work has contributed to reductions in many disparities.But the AACR report found that federal policy changes have affected about 93% of surveyed researchers in this field."Many medical trials were stopped in the middle — meaning those patients suddenly didn't receive the treatments they were getting, because the funding stopped," says Mariana Stern, professor of preventive medicine and urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and chair of the report committee.The report draws on a survey of 122 researchers including professors, scientists and students.Seventy-eight percent said they've been unable to apply for funding, and 59% said ongoing research projects were disrupted.
And 59% of respondents said the funding that was lost came from the National Institutes of Health, or the NIH.The report also points to data published in JAMA Oncology in November showing that in roughly the first half of 2025, the Trump administration canceled 181 grants from the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, a division of the NIH.The grants totaled more than $317 million and many studied disparities.Stay up to date with our Up First newsletter, sent every weekday morning.All told, thousands of grants across NIH were terminated in 2025, according to a non-profit called Grant Witness which tracks terminations and other changes to grant funding for scientific agencies.
These funding cuts followed an executive order in January 2025 calling to end "radical" and "wasteful" DEI research.Heather Pierce, senior director for science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges, AAM...