AACR Call to Action

The progress highlighted in this report demonstrates that cancer disparities are neither inevitable nor impossible to address. Federal investments through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and national screening and research programs have demonstrably reduced cancer mortality and expanded access to care for populations affected by cancer disparities, proving that sustained commitment can narrow these divides. Yet recent funding cuts, program disruptions, and administrative instability seriously threaten the research infrastructure and community-based programs that made this progress possible, placing the greatest burden on patients from racial and ethnic minority populations, rural and frontier communities, low socioeconomic status, and individuals with increased cancer risk. Significantly reducing cancer disparities in the United States, with a longer-term goal of completely eliminating them, is achievable provided that our nation’s policymakers prioritize the research and policy proposals that are necessary to ensuring that every patient has a fair chance to benefit from advances in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer.

Continued progress will depend on renewed federal and legislative action commensurate with the scale and urgency of the challenge. With sustained commitment and investment, Congress and the federal government can meaningfully reduce the cancer burden for every American. The following AACR Call to Action outlines a comprehensive framework and vision for significantly reducing, and ultimately eliminating, cancer disparities.

AACR Urges Policymakers to Prioritize the Following Actions:

1. Sustain and strengthen federal investments in cancer disparities research.

Robust, predictable funding is the foundation of every advance described in this report. Congress must continue to appropriate adequate funding to continue progress toward reducing cancer disparities.

• Provide at least $51.3 billion for NIH in fiscal year 2027 to sustain the federal investment in medical research that has driven progress against cancer for more than half a century. Congress should also invest in cross-cutting programs and initiatives that advance community-led disparities research and pass legislation to permanently protect the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities from elimination and ensure its long-term stability.
• Provide at least $7.99 billion for NCI in fiscal year 2027, including dedicated funding and support for the NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD), the Connecting Patient Populations to Clinical Trials program, and the NCI Community Oncology Research Program, which together support the research, workforce development, and community-based clinical trials that extend the benefits of cancer science to the patients who need them most.
• Provide at least $482.9 million for the CDC Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in fiscal year 2027 to sustain prevention and screening programs that reach millions of Americans who face the greatest cancer burden. Congress should sustain funding for the CDC Office of Smoking Health and National and State Tobacco Control Programs, invest in CDC’s Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program to promote healthy communities, and restore environmental justice initiatives that protect communities from carcinogenic exposures.

2. Support data collection initiatives to reduce cancer disparities.

Federal cancer surveillance systems, population health datasets, and the demographic variables researchers depend on to track disparities are essential to understanding cancer disparities and ensuring all populations benefit from scientific advances.

• Restore and protect federal cancer surveillance systems and ensure they collect complete demographic data across race, ethnicity, geography, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• Fund large, multiethnic prospective studies with biorepositories to investigate the biological mechanisms through which environmental exposures, occupational hazards, and other factors influence cancer risk and outcomes, including among veterans, agricultural workers, and communities with elevated environmental burdens.
• Expand cancer research partnerships with underserved populations, including American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian populations and rural and frontier communities, where data gaps remain a direct barrier to scientific progress.

3. Ensure every cancer therapy is evaluated in the populations in which it is meant to be utilized.

Only 7 percent of adult cancer patients in the United States (US) participate in clinical trials, and trial participants remain less racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse than the overall patient population. In addition, 86 percent of nonmetropolitan counties have no active trials, and rural patients must travel more than twice as far as urban patients to reach one. Fostering increased access to and participation in clinical trials is critical to addressing cancer disparities and ensuring therapies work for all patients.

• Fully implement the clinical trial diversity provisions of the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022, including requirements for diversity action plans from trial sponsors, and ensure that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains the infrastructure and staffing necessary to enforce those provisions. FDA should implement guidance requiring representative enrollment in federally funded and federally regulated cancer trials, expanding investment in community-based and decentralized trial models.
• Expand partnerships between academic cancer centers and community hospitals, including critical access hospitals in rural areas, to bring trials closer to the patients who need them, consistent with the recommendations of the President’s Cancer Panel’s January 2026 report to the President.

4. Ensure equitable cancer prevention, screening, genetic testing, and follow-up care.

Screening and preventive interventions saves lives, yet millions of eligible Americans remain unscreened and the populations carrying the greatest burden of cancer are consistently the least likely to be reached. Cost remains one of the most persistent barriers to timely cancer detection, and Congress should protect Medicaid coverage for cancer screening and follow-up care.

• FDA should reinstate and finalize its proposed rule to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, which would reduce tobacco initiation, advance cessation, and meaningfully address tobacco-related cancer disparities.
• Pass the bipartisan Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services for Cancer Act (H.R.2381/S.1866) to reauthorize and increase funding for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program through fiscal year 2030, strengthening patient navigation and outreach to ensure screening reaches the communities that need it the most.
• Pass the bipartisan Mobile Cancer Screening Act (H.R.4417/S.2927) to establish a federal grant program helping rural hospitals and community health centers acquire mobile screening units, bringing early detection directly to communities where distance and lack of transportation place traditional clinical settings out of reach.
• Pass the bipartisan Reducing Hereditary Cancer Act (H.R.4752/S.2760) to extend Medicare coverage for genetic testing, counseling, and high-risk cancer screening to individuals with family histories or known hereditary mutations. Medicare currently covers genetic testing only after a cancer diagnosis, leaving millions of Americans unable to act on inherited risk until it may already be too late.
• Reconstitute and fully support the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which has not convened since March 2025. The USPSTF issues the evidence-based recommendations that guide cancer screening coverage for millions of Americans and develops risk-adapted eligibility criteria that reach underserved populations. Congress should also ensure that at-home human papillomavirus (HPV) and colorectal cancer screening tests are covered without cost-sharing.

5. Implement policies to ensure equitable patient access to lifesaving therapies.

To translate scientific progress into improved outcomes for all populations, policymakers must address the barriers that prevent patients from accessing lifesaving cancer therapies when and where they need them.

• Protect and expand Medicaid coverage to improve health care access for underserved communities, reduce financial burdens to patients, and ensure that all patients can access the treatments they need without interruption.
• Ensure stable and adequate reimbursement for community-based oncology practices, particularly in rural and underserved areas, to preserve access to cancer care for the patients who have the fewest alternatives.
• Integrate patient navigation services into the fabric of cancer care. Patient navigation is among the most consistently effective interventions documented in this report for improving cancer screening, treatment, care, and patient quality of life and satisfaction, particularly in underserved populations. Policymakers should expand and sustain reimbursement for patient navigation services and expand federal support for navigator and community health worker training and credentialing to ensure that patients have the individualized support they need across the cancer care continuum.

6. Build a cancer research and patient care workforce that reflects the nation it serves.

America’s leadership in cancer research depends on a robust, stable, and inclusive workforce. Patients experience better communication, greater trust, improved adherence, and stronger outcomes when cared for by clinicians and research teams that reflect the diversity of the populations they serve.

• Restore early-career grant award rates to 2024 levels and establish bridge funding mechanisms to provide continuity of support for researchers at all career stages.
• Protect and codify evidence-based workforce programs, including the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce, the National Research Mentor Network, NIH diversity supplements, and CRCHD’s Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences program to ensure their long-term stability.
• Invest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and training programs to create clear pathways into medical research careers for all populations, ensuring that the next generation of cancer researchers reflects the diversity of the patients they serve.

Cancer touches every community. Despite remarkable scientific progress, not all Americans have benefited equally from advances in cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship. Persistent disparities shaped by geography, socioeconomics, race or ethnicity, and structural inequities continue to influence a person’s risk of cancer development, outcome, and quality of life. The actions outlined above are grounded in rigorous science and demonstrated impact. Each represents an opportunity not only to reduce suffering and save lives, but also to strengthen the nation’s health, economy, and scientific enterprise for generations to come. The AACR stands ready to work with Congress, federal agencies, and all stakeholders in medical research and public health to turn this evidence into progress for every American touched by cancer.

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