IHS Joins Forces With Cancer Center

IHS is partnering with the renowned Roswell Park Cancer Institute to reduce cancer’s impact on American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

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Roswell Park, founded in 1898, is one of the first cancer centers in the U.S. to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. It will collaborate with IHS in research addressing health disparities; cancer risk reduction, prevention, and early detection; cancer-related medical care; community outreach and training, and expanded career and education opportunities in oncology for Native Americans.

IHS will use its resources and expertise to facilitate “relationships of trust” among Roswell Park and the members and leaders of native communities. Those relationships will allow them to ascertain needs and address disparities that are unique or prevalent in native communities, IHS says.

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Rodney Haring, PhD, MSW, assistant professor of oncology in the Office of Cancer Health Disparities Research at Roswell Park, member of the Seneca Nation, and a delegate to the American Indian and Alaska Native Health Research Advisory Council in HHS, says, “The values and traditions of Native American culture will inform and enhance our efforts to reduce the devastating burden of cancer, not only in Native communities but for everyone.”