Published on May 26, 2022
Updated on June 30, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kyra Meister
703-836-1746
kyra.meister@preventcancer.org
Alexandra, Va. – The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as LGBTQ+ has doubled since 2012 to 7.1%.1 Despite this uptick, there is a significant lack of data and research on sexual orientation and gender identity when it comes to health care. People who identify as LGBTQ+ may have a higher risk of getting cancer than those who identify as heterosexual and/or cisgender. On Thursday, May 19, the Prevent Cancer Advocacy Workshop convened conversations addressing these disparities.
“You don’t fix what you don’t measure,” said Scout, Ph.D., the Executive Director of the National LGBT Cancer Network, in reference to how the lack of sexual orientation and gender identity data and research on LGBTQ+ individuals’ experience with their health care providers affects their outcome of care. In his keynote address, Scout discussed the state of the LGBTQ+ community as it relates to cancer care, best practices for data collection, such as encouraging data collection in research, trials and electronic health records (EHRs), and how the National LGBT Cancer Network promotes the creation of welcoming spaces across the health care continuum.
Other speakers included:
“The Foundation remains committed to increasing education and action amongst patient advocacy groups,” said Caitlin Kubler, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Prevent Cancer Foundation. “Conversations and contributions from our workshop will help us move forward in raising awareness of cancer screening disparities in the LGBTQ+ community.”
If you missed the Advocacy Workshop, you can watch the full video here. A list of resources provided by speakers from the workshop can be found at www.preventcancer.org/advocacy/workshop.
The 2022 Prevent Cancer Advocacy Workshop thanks its sponsors:
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About the Prevent Cancer Foundation®
The Prevent Cancer Foundation® is the only U.S. nonprofit organization focused solely on saving lives across all populations through cancer prevention and early detection. Through research, education, outreach and advocacy, we have helped countless people avoid a cancer diagnosis or detect their cancer early enough to be successfully treated.
The Foundation is rising to meet the challenge of reducing cancer deaths by 40% by 2035. To achieve this, we are committed to investing $20 million for innovative technologies to detect cancer early and advance multi-cancer screening, $10 million to expand cancer screening and vaccination access to medically underserved communities, and $10 million to educate the public about screening and vaccination options. For more information, please visit www.preventcancer.org.