Quick Facts:
Grantee Institution: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
2023 Researchers: Dr. Carol Brown and Dr. Fiyinfolu Balogun with co-investigator Dr. Debyani Chakravarty
Lab: Brown Lab, Balogun Lab
Research Focus: Endometrial Carcinoma in Black Women and Pancreas Cancer Genomics in Minorities
Grant: 3 year commitment of $600,000
2019: $100,000
2020: $100,000
2021: $100,000
2022: $200,000
TOTAL: $500,000 *with an additional $400,000 in the next two years
History
At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Gabe received personalized cancer treatments and participated in an immunotherapy clinical trial. This inspired Gabe to make MSKCC one of the first research grantees of the Brave Like Gabe Foundation in 2019. At Brave Like Gabe, we believe in the research and breakthroughs happening at MSKCC and we are grateful to help fund these efforts.
Gabe was also a big supporter of Cycle for Survival, a cycling event to raise money for rare cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Annually, Brave Like Gabe participates in the Cycle for Survival events and all team donations go towards the grant commitment. In 2023, Team BLG will have bikes available for riders in 5 cities across the country. Learn more and sign up to cycle for rare cancer research!
Dr. Alan Ho, Gabe’s physician at MSK, participating in a Cycle for Survival event
Grant Information
In 2022, the Brave Like Gabe Foundation committed to a three year grant, totaling $600,000, supporting rare cancer research. At Brave Like Gabe, we believe multi year funding is critical to moving the needle on rare cancer and we are grateful for the opportunity to partner with MSKCC in this work. The gift will be allocated to one or more underrepresented in science investigator(s) to study rare cancer(s) that disproportionately affect people of color. The recipient(s) will be selected by a committee.
We are excited to introduce the 2023-2024 Research grant recipients:
Dr. Carol Brown, MD, FACOG, FACS
“For the last 40 years in the United States, Black women with endometrial cancer have had a 25% lower survival rate than white women. That 40 years includes some incredible advances in cancer treatment, but there is still a large gap.”
Researching Outcome Disparities in Endometrial Cancer
Black women with endometrial carcinoma are more likely to die from the disease than white women, even when controlling for such factors as stage at diagnosis, obesity, and hypertension. Dr. Carol Brown is pursuing a comprehensive pathology review correlated with data from MSK-IMPACT™ to reveal whether genetic alterations in these women’s cancers can explain their disparate outcomes. The study, the largest molecular characterization of endometrial carcinomas in Black women to date, will also assess the prognostic value of genomic profiling on survival for these women.
Dr. Carol Brown’s research for discovering molecular profiles of Endometrial Carcinoma in black women is addressing three specific aims.
Characterize the histologic and somatic genetic landscape of endometrial cancers (ECs) in Black women.
Define the frequency of Lynch syndrome in black women with EC.
Determine benefit and prognostic value of genomic profile on survival in Black women with EC.
Dr. Fiyinfolu Balogun, MD, PhD and Dr. Debyani Chakravarty, PhD
The Onc Docs: Dr. Onyinye Balogun & Dr. Fiyinfolu Balogun
Researching Disparities in Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is known to be an aggressive disease. While uncommon, representing only 3% of all cancers diagnosed, it is the third-highest cause of cancer deaths after lung and colorectal cancers. Higher incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer are particularly exacerbated in underserved diverse communities, particularly for patients who are Black.
African American/Non-Hispanic Black (AA/NHB) patients typically present with more aggressive disease and are twice as likely to have late-stage pancreatic cancer at diagnosis compared to Non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients. Stage-matched AA/NHB are less likely to receive systemic therapy, surgery, or radiotherapy and are more likely to refuse treatment. Further contributing to this disparity are documented socioeconomic factors resulting from decades-long systemic racism engendered in our society that prevents AA/NHB patients from receiving equitable healthcare. An example of these socioeconomic status-based health disparities is the underrepresentation of patients from diverse, underserved communities in published genomic studies. Our current understanding of the pathogenesis and genomics of pancreatic cancer stems from the study of predominantly NHW patient tumor samples.
Drs. Chakravarty and Balogun are seeking to gain greater insight into the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer by broadening the population of patient samples for genomic studies to reflect the demographics of the patient population more accurately. Their project is two-pronged: first to explore the relationship between genetics and self-reported race/ethnicity in an established MSK clinical dataset that contains genomic information and associated clinical outcomes; second, by leveraging existing partnerships between MSK and area community hospitals to increase the number of patients of color with pancreatic cancer who receive genomic sequencing of their tumor samples. In this way, Drs. Balogun and Chakravarty will increase the diversity of tumor samples upon which further genomic studies can be performed, including validating the hypotheses generated in the first aim.