The AACR-Genentech Cancer Disparities Research Fellowships represent a joint effort to encourage and support postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to conduct cancer disparities research and to establish a successful career path in this field. Funded research can be basic, clinical, translational, or epidemiological in nature.

2021 Grantees

Research
Of the 55 million Latinos that reside in the United States, six million are current smokers. Latinos experience multiple barriers to healthcare access that result in tobacco-related disparities. Overcoming these disparities demands innovative, accessible, effective, and culturally appropriate solutions. Dr. Cartujano aims to develop and assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of Deja de fumar, ¡ejercitándote! (Quit Smoking by Exercising!), a mobile intervention to promote smoking cessation and physical activity among Latinos. Deja de fumar, ¡ejercitándote! will integrate four components: 1) a 12-week text messaging coaching program with interactive capabilities, 2) wearable devices to monitor physical activity, 3) an online dashboard that manages participants’ incoming and outgoing data from both the text messaging program and wearable devices, and 4) nicotine replacement therapy.

Biography
Dr. Cartujano received his MD from Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos and completed his research fellowship at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He has been trained in participatory research to address tobacco-related disparities. Specifically, he has worked in the development and implementation of culturally and linguistically appropriate mobile interventions for smoking cessation among Latinos in the United States and Latin America. Currently, he is a research assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and the Assistant Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at Wilmot Cancer Institute, part of URMC.

Acknowledgment of Support
As a Mexican immigrant and a medical doctor, I have an unwavering commitment to address tobacco-related disparities among Latinos. I am extremely honored to be awarded the 2021 AACR-Genentech Cancer Disparities Research Fellowship. This grant will advance smoking cessation and physical activity among Latinos. ¡Muchas gracias!

Research
Despite the advances in the discovery of disease risk-associated genetic variants in diverse populations, Hispanic/Latinx individuals remain underrepresented in GWAS and transcriptome databases. Multiple variants located in the 6q25 locus near the estrogen receptor 1 gene (ESR1) have been associated with breast cancer risk in several studies, showing subtype-specific associations including a Hispanic/Latinx-specific protective variant. The proposed study is based on the hypothesis that this region harbors multiple population- and subtype-specific breast cancer risk variants with a cis effect on gene expression in Latinas. Dr. Zavala will use an approach that integrates germline data from the Peruvian Genomics of Breast Cancer Study (PEGEN-BC), a breast cancer case series of highly Indigenous American patients, with transcriptomic data from BC tumors from these same patients.

Biography
Dr. Zavala earned her doctorate in molecular and cellular biology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, studying the effect of up-regulated microRNAs on BRCA1 expression in breast cancer. In 2018, she joined the University of California, San Francisco, where she was trained in integrative genomics through the study of the genetic factors that contribute to breast cancer risk in Latinas. In 2020, she moved to the University of California, Davis, where she continues her research focusing on understanding the molecular mechanisms that link population-specific genetic variants to breast cancer biology in Latinas.

Acknowledgment of Support
It is an honor to receive the 2021 AACR-Genentech Cancer Disparities Research Fellowship. This opportunity will allow me to advance knowledge about germline effects on tumor biology in an understudied population and will provide me with the resources to continue developing as a scientist and take my career to the next level.

2020 Grantees

Research
African-American men have a higher risk for developing prostate cancer and experience a higher death rate compared to other ethnic groups. Dr. Allen hypothesizes that metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) cells use alternative RNA splicing (ARS) during the metastasis process and that differences in race-related ARS contribute to disparities in prostate cancer metastasis and mortality rates. To test this hypothesis, he is set to molecularly interrogate patient-matched primary and metastatic PCa tissue for ARS variation between the primary and secondary tumor sites. Tissues from equal numbers of patients of African or European ancestry will be analyzed to determine ancestry-related ARS differences between primary and metastatic tissue.

Biography
Dr. Allen earned his PhD in comparative biomedical sciences from the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University, where he was an NCI predoctoral fellow. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke Cancer Institute, where he focuses on understanding the role of alternative RNA-splicing in metastasis.

Acknowledgment of Support
It is an honor to be selected for the AACR-Genentech Cancer Disparities Research Fellowship. This fellowship supports a study with significant impact on not only health disparities, but also the molecular understanding of the metastasis process. I am thankful for the award and look forward to helping advance the field with the support of AACR and Genentech.

Research
For reasons not well understood, African-American (AA) women are disproportionately affected by triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), with higher rates of incidence and mortality than Caucasian women. In an effort to distinguish biological factors that contribute to this disparity, Dr. Bassiouni has previously found that loss of the tumor suppressor alpha-catenin is associated with poor survival of AA TNBC patients. In her funded project, she is set to utilize a racially diverse panel of patient-derived tissues to model and study alpha-catenin loss in TNBC. She aims to elucidate the molecular and cellular consequences of alpha-catenin loss that could contribute to aggressive disease and to identify therapeutic opportunities for treatment of AA TNBC.

Biography
Dr. Bassiouni received her PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of Central Florida, where she trained in cancer biology and pre-clinical therapeutic development. She is currently a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Southern California, where she focuses on elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying aggressive triple-negative breast cancer in African-American patients and defining therapeutic opportunities to reverse this disparity.

Acknowledgment of Support
I am greatly honored to be awarded the 2020 AACR-Genentech Cancer Disparities Research Fellowship. With this support, I aim to advance our understanding of cancer health disparities and to ultimately benefit patients disproportionately burdened by disease.

2019 Grantees

Research
In the United States, refugee women have significantly lower cervical cancer screening rates compared to American-born women. Dr. Rodriguez is leveraging cohort data from a large safety-net health care system to: 1) characterize cervical cancer screening, follow-up, and outcomes among refugee women, 2) describe barriers to screening and follow-up, and 3) synthesize findings to identify intervention opportunities to increase screening and follow-up among refugee patients.

Biography
Dr. Rodriguez received her PhD from the UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, where she was an NCI predoctoral fellow. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she focuses on improving cancer care delivery for vulnerable patient subpopulations.

Acknowledgment of Support
I am incredibly thankful to be awarded the AACR-Genentech Cancer Health Disparities Research Fellowship. This award supports a study I believe can make a significant impact on refugee health care and cancer health disparities. I am thankful for this opportunity to build my research portfolio as I move towards research independence.

Research
Earlier onset, more advanced stage at diagnosis, and aggressive tumor phenotype are some of the characteristic features of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in women with African ethnicity in comparison to European-American women. In addition, mortality from TNBC is significantly higher in African American (AA) women in comparison to European American (EA) women. It is imperative to understand the molecular determinants that drive aggressive progression of AA-TNBC. Based on an in vitro multiple cell line study and meta-analysis of a TNBC cohort, Dr. Siddharth hypothesizes that elevated NURR1 expression in AA-TNBC results in “oncogene addiction” and mediates aggressive progression of AA-TNBC in comparison to EA-TNBC.

Biography
Dr. Siddharth earned his PhD in biotechnology with specialization in cancer biology from KIIT University, India. His thesis research focused on the characterization of distinct pre-metastatic quiescent-breast cancer stem cells (Q-BCSCs) in a model system of breast cancer metastasis. Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, he is working on deciphering the molecular determinants responsible for racial disparity of TNBC progression among AA and EA women.

Acknowledgement of Support
I am extremely honored to be awarded the AACR-Genentech Cancer Health Disparities Research Fellowship 2019. This fellowship will allow me to develop a better understanding of molecular mechanisms driving African-American triple negative breast cancer growth and devise a pathway-specific therapeutic intervention in the future.