Nearly all cancer disparities researchers in the United States say their work has been disrupted by recent federal funding changes, according to a report released this week by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
The AACR’s Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2026, released June 24, found that 93% of surveyed researchers said they had been affected by cuts to federal research funding, the elimination of workforce diversity programs, or disruptions to early-career funding support. More than half — 56% — said they had partially shifted away from disparities-focused research or were seriously considering changing their research direction altogether.
Cancer disparities research examines why some groups of Americans are more likely to develop cancer, or to die from it, than others. Factors such as race, income, geography and insurance status have long been linked to unequal outcomes, and researchers in the field say their work has directly contributed to narrowing some of those gaps over the past three decades.
Mariana Stern, a professor of preventive medicine and urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC who chaired the report committee, said the funding disruptions have had immediate consequences for patients. She said some clinical trials were halted midway through, cutting off patients from treatments they were already receiving.
The report credits disparities research with real progress. Stern noted that in the 1990s, Black Americans died of cancer at a rate roughly 34% higher than white Americans. That gap has since narrowed to about 9%, a shift researchers attribute in part to sustained federal investment in disparities-focused work.
But significant gaps remain. According to the report, rural Americans are 18% more likely to die from cancer overall than the general population, including a 36% greater likelihood of dying from lung cancer. Black women are 35% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women. Veterans face 72% higher odds of developing skin cancer.
Dr. Robert Winn, director of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Pennsylvania, was not an author of the report but was interviewed about his work discussed in it. He warned that continued funding reductions risk reversing decades of progress, particularly for patients who live far from major cancer treatment centers.
“If we take our foot off the pedal of disparities research, there will be more Americans — in rural communities and others not near [centers of excellence] — who will not do well,” Winn said.
The AACR report calls on federal policymakers to sustain and strengthen investment in cancer disparities research, including funding for the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also urges the restoration of federal cancer surveillance systems that collect complete demographic data across race, ethnicity, geography, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
Researchers say the coming months will determine whether the field can maintain the momentum built over the past 30 years.
(Source: American Association for Cancer Research, Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2026.)
