Practice Tip of the Week | The American Cancer Society’s VOICES of Black Women

By: Kristen Rombach, RN, BSN, OCN

It is National Women’s Health Week, which is a reminder for women of all ages to prioritize their health. 

Did you know that there are critical differences between cancer diagnoses and death rates for Black and White women in America? While Black women have lower rates of cancer diagnoses overall and are less likely to hear the words “you have cancer,” Black women are more likely to die from their cancer diagnosis.

At the American Cancer Society (ACS), equity in cancer care for all is at the heart of our mission. We prioritize work that helps ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. It’s with this vision in mind we’re excited to launch a new groundbreaking population cohort study, underscoring our commitment to better understand how this demographic is impacted by cancer disparities: VOICES of Black Women. This new study is designed to help better understand the multi-level drivers of incidence, mortality, and resilience of cancer and other health conditions among Black women in the United States, so we can better understand how to collectively address them. It will be the largest cohort study of cancer risk and outcomes among Black women in the United States.

VOICES of Black Women kicked off nationwide on May 6, 2024. Recruitment for the study will focus on 20 target states and the District of Columbia (Alabama, California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia). These states represent the geographic areas where more than 90 percent of Black women in the US live, according to the US Census. Recruitment is open to Black women ages 25 to 55 who have not been diagnosed with cancer (except basal or squamous skin cancer). The recruitment model is designed to help enroll women of diverse backgrounds.

For generations, ACS has conducted some of the world’s largest and most impactful population cohort studies to better understand how cancer develops in a population, identify cancer risk factors, and learn how to improve both survivorship and outcomes. ACS population studies have made some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in cancer science: Linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer, linking obesity to risk of early death, and linking regular aspirin use to lower risk of colorectal cancer, among many others. At ACS we fight every cancer, and for every life. We are uniquely positioned to use our 110 years of experience and leading position to help answer many unanswered questions with this new study, even beyond cancer.

With VOICES, we have an exciting opportunity to partner with communities of Black women across the nation to listen to them in meaningful ways, to lift their stories, and ultimately better understand how their unique experiences can help us shape a path toward eliminating barriers, to ensure everyone has the same opportunity to be healthy and cancer-free. With a goal to recruit 100,000 Black women, this study will be transformative in helping us learn more about why Black women have some of the highest death rates and shortest survival of any racial or ethnic group in the US for most cancers.

For more information about the study including eligibility requirements as well as enrollment and participation information, please visit  Voices of Black Women | American Cancer Society. There are several other opportunities for involvement as well. We are currently working to amplify the message of the study and are seeking volunteers to help us to spread the word. Please share VOICES of Black Women with your networks. If you would like to volunteer to support VOICES, please email Kristen.rombach@cancer.org for more information.