Led by Dr. Tomi Akinyemiju, we use high-quality data and rigorous analysis to understand why cancer outcomes differ between communities — and to find what actually closes the gap.
Bridging the gap between science and community health. Our legacy is not simply that we studied and documented unequal cancer outcomes — it is that we helped change them.
Biology
We study how everyday factors like diet and activity shape biological pathways — metabolism, inflammation, epigenetics — that make some cancers more aggressive.
What this means for you:
Understanding these risk factors helps us build screening and prevention that fits your body, not an average.
Care Access
We map five dimensions of access — affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation and acceptability — and trace how each affects treatment and survival.
What this means for you:
We pinpoint why some neighborhoods lack care and push for the clinics, transport and coverage that fix it.
Social Factors
We measure how residential segregation and racial discrimination become embodied — influencing risk factors, tumor biology and survival among Black Americans.
What this means for you:
Our data gives policymakers and health systems the evidence to be held accountable for treating every patient equally.
Active Study Spotlight
Breast Cancer
MEND asks why breast cancer is often found later and behaves more aggressively in Black women, linking metabolic health, neighborhood conditions and tumor biology.
Cancer Causes Control • 2026
Self-collected biospecimen consent and return rates in a population-based study among women with ovarian cancer: insights from the ORCHiD study
JCO Oncol Pract • 2026
Survival Disparities in Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer
Nat Hum Behav • 2025
A latent measure of cultural racism and its association with US mortality and life expectancy
From the REGAL Community
Our annual newsletter shares the people, partnerships, and research milestones behind our work toward more equitable cancer outcomes.
2026
Our next annual newsletter is in the works — follow our latest studies, community events, and team milestones. Check back soon for the full edition.
Coming soon
2025
Meet the people, partnerships, and research milestones that moved our work toward more equitable cancer outcomes in 2025.