Nazik Hammad, Medical Oncologist and Professor at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“No cancer care without the cancer workforce. Diversity of the workforce is crucial for equity in cancer care for disadvantaged populations. This timely publication from ASCO journal of oncology practice paints a gloomy picture of the future if there is no change in the way we train the workforce including admission practices and support of URiM. By 2060 the oncology workforce would still be the same way it is now in terms of diversity. We have learned from Snyder et al publication in JAMA open in April 2023 that 10% increase in Black primary care doctors within a given county improves life expectancy in that county and decreased all cause mortality in Black People.
The 2025 cancer statistics report from American cancer society showed that Black people have two fold higher mortality from cancer than White people. African American doctors comprise only 3% of the oncology workforce. There are probably worse statistics (often not available) for Black oncologists in Canada, the UK or Brazil where there are sizable Black populations.The importance of this paper is that it demonstrates the power of workforce analytics such as modeling and projection. Such work is rarely funded or well represented in oncology platforms such as conferences or journals. Time to a raise the profile of workforce reasrch and policy.”
Title: Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the Oncology Workforce: Projections From 2020 to 2060
Authors: William L. Roberts, Pamela R. Soulos, Jeph Herrin, Craig E. Pollack, Inginia Genao, James B. Yu, Dowin H. Boatright, Cary P. Gross
Read the Full Article on JCO Oncology Practice
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