Dr Manmeet Ahluwalia on Improving Genomic Testing Disparities in Oncology

Every patient who is seen at Miami Cancer Institute is offered genomic testing of their tumor, which can then match each individual with the best standard-of-care treatment or a clinical trial that is open at our facility, said Manmeet Ahluwalia, MD, MBA, chief, Solid Tumor Medical Oncology; deputy director; and chief scientific officer at Miami Cancer Institute.

Transcript

What potential changes are being explored at Miami Cancer Institute’s Center for Equity in Cancer Care & Research as it pertains to how cancer care is delivered in and away from the clinic?

As we are all aware, there have been tremendous strides in cancer care, but there are still disparities that exist between different groups. For example, if you look at genomic testing, which is a big emphasis of cancer care these days, when a patient with cancer comes, he or she needs to be tested for genetic changes that may have driven their cancer, which helps us pick the right therapies, often targeted therapies, which are designer drugs [that] go and target the pathway that is driving someone's cancer or pick the right immunotherapy to give to those patients.

What we have found out is that patients of minority origin typically undergo less genetic testing compared with White Caucasian patients. Hence, our center has partnered up with Caris Life Sciences, and every patient who is seen at Miami Cancer Institute is offered a genetic testing of their tumor. And then depending on what the report shows, they are then offered either the best standard-of-care treatment using targeted therapies or immunotherapies or offered a clinical trial that is open at our place. The emphasis is to bridge this gap of the minority in cancer care compared with the rest of the community.

Also, we do know that social determinants of health play a big role in outcomes of the patients. And for that regard, we are working with community health care workers, launching cancer screening programs, to make sure that everyone has access to the best screening possible, but also everyone has access to the best cancer care if they are diagnosed with cancer. And this also includes access to clinical trials for all of our patients.