A program launched at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
three years ago to advance health equity and access by
strengthening connections between cancer researchers and Indigenous
communities has grown into a broad-based team of Indigenous experts
with an expanded scope and purpose. The cancer center’s new
Department of Indigenous Cancer Health reflects the significant
growth of an initiative led since its inception by health
disparities expert Rodney Haring,
PhD, MSW, an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians,
Beaver Clan.

BUFFALO,
N.Y., Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/
— 

• First department of its kind at an NCI-designated cancer
  center
• Expanded program will focus not just on research but education,
  clinical care
• New framework allows for greater collaboration inside and
  outside Roswell Park

“It’s not enough to focus just on how to
make cancer research more beneficial for Indigenous and
non-Indigenous communities. We have to be there with supports and
services at every step… and our new framework as a department
makes full use of the tools and partnerships we’ve forged along the
way.”

A program launched at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
three years ago to advance health equity and access by
strengthening connections between cancer researchers and Indigenous
communities has grown into a broad-based team of Indigenous experts
with an expanded scope and purpose. The cancer center’s new
Department of Indigenous Cancer Health reflects the significant
growth of an initiative led since its inception by health
disparities expert Rodney Haring,
PhD, MSW, an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians,
Beaver Clan.

“The Department of Indigenous Cancer Health at Roswell Park
Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first of its kind at any
National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in the country,
which is monumental in many different ways,” says Dr. Haring, newly
named Chair of the department, who has served on the Roswell Park
faculty since 2012.

“It’s so important that we have integrated resources to offer
the communities and organizations we serve. It’s not enough to
focus just on how to make cancer research more beneficial for
Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. We have to be there with
supports and services at every step from prevention to education,
patient services and translating research into practice, and our
new framework as a department makes full use of the tools and
partnerships we’ve forged along the way.”

“Our Indigenous Cancer Health programs have been a keystone
that’s brought incredible depth and reach to Roswell Park’s mission
to serve our communities,” says Roswell Park President, CEO and
M&T Bank Presidential Chair in Leadership Candace S. Johnson,
PhD. “Aligning these resources as a department recognizes the
possibility for global benefit from our work to bridge gaps in
services, in access and in understanding.”

Since the program was established in 2020 as the Center for
Indigenous Cancer Research, the Indigenous Cancer Health initiative
at Roswell Park has:

• Grown into an interdisciplinary team of experts, including Dr.
  Haring as program Chair and faculty sponsor, David Mattson, Jr., MD, Native Hawaiian,
  Assistant Professor and Director of GI and GYN Radiation Services,
  as Clinical Advisor; Josie
  Raphaelito, MPH, Diné/Navajo, as Assistant Director;
  Hugh Burnam, PhD, Mohawk Nation,
  Wolf Clan, as Research
  Affiliate.
• Department staff include community-based patient navigators as
  well as physician-scientists and experts in public health,
  community relations and clinical research — all of whom are from
  Indigenous communities.
• Renewed a first-of-its kind cancer-focused Memorandum of
  Understanding with the Indian Health Service (IHS) within the of
  the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, first awarded in
  2016, and helped shape and inform IHS’ work; Dr. Haring and
  Raphaelito serve on IHS’ National Tribal Cancer Workgroup.
• Reached thousands of residents of tribal, and adjacent, urban
  and rural communities with health screening, education or linkage
  to clinical care and supportive resources.
• Hosted students from Indigenous communities for experiential
  learning introducing them to the field of medical research,
  including a tribally led partnership that has brought dozens of
  high school and college students from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
  to Roswell Park.
• Successfully competed for research grants from public and
  private funding organizations including the National Cancer
  Institute, other National Institutes of Health agencies and the
  Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, and published numerous studies in
  peer-reviewed medical and public-health journals on topics ranging
  from health communications to COVID-19 control, genomic-based data
  use agreements with Indigenous populations and novel proposals to
  address cancer health disparities and improve outcomes.
• Partnered with health experts from Native Nations and
  international collaborators including the Māori of New Zealand.

“The Department of Indigenous Cancer Health at Roswell Park
Comprehensive Cancer has created a unique opportunity to include
indigenous perspectives and medicines, in their care, treatment,
and research – capitalizing on the true power of inclusive
diversity in their work. It’s not just the lip service of having
representation. They are realizing significant and potentially
groundbreaking benefits. Their efforts not only increase the
quality of care, but the opportunities created by this team to
educate are inspiring and developing the next generation of Native
American medical professionals and researchers,” says Michael Martin, Executive Director of Native
American Community Services and member of the Onondaga Nation,
Beaver Clan. Their respectful approach to dealing with Native
governments and communities has opened the door for greater
collaborations that will help produce healthier outcomes for our
people and our future seven generations. I truly feel they are an
international leader in understanding and supporting the power of
indigenous people, approaches, and perspectives. Dr. Haring is a
great Ambassador for Roswell and is also an international
indigenous leader in his field. We are so lucky to have this center
here serving our people.”

“I am incredibly thrilled to witness the remarkable growth of
the Department of Indigenous Cancer Health at Roswell Park
Comprehensive Cancer Center, as a member of both the Roswell Park
Community Advisory Board and the Department of Indigenous Cancer
Health Community Advisory Board, it is great to see this
cutting-edge work being done at one of the Nation’s preeminent
cancer centers — upholding the values of Indigenous knowledge,
sovereignty and environmental respect through community-driven and
diverse partnerships, research and education, all in the pursuit of
diminishing the impact of cancer inequities on communities
underserved & worldwide,” says Rory
Wheeler, a citizen of the Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan, and
descendant of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, who has been an active community organizer, volunteer,
advisor and leader.

The framework of the newly aligned and expanded department
brings new opportunities for collaboration both within and outside
of Roswell Park, Dr. Haring notes.

“When we bring health, education and research to our
communities, our Tribal, regional and academic partners see that
it’s in the context of a government-to-government-to cancer center
relationship,” he says. “We approach our work with great respect
and a sense of responsibility to our communities, our environment,
and to the generations that will follow us.”

For more on the new Department of Indigenous Cancer Health at
Roswell Park, its team and its work, go to:
roswellpark.org/indigenous.

From the world’s first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate
cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated
and prevented worldwide. Driven to eliminate cancer’s grip on
humanity, the Roswell Park team of 4,000 makes compassionate,
patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across
New York State and beyond. Founded
in 1898, Roswell Park was among the first three cancer centers
nationwide to become a National Cancer Institute-designated
comprehensive cancer center and is the only one to hold this
designation in Upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park
Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network,
visit http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL
(1-800-767-9355) or email ASKRoswell@RoswellPark.org.

Media Contact

Rebecca Vogt, Roswell Park
Comprehensive Cancer Center, 7165480482,
rebecca.vogt@roswellpark.org, roswellpark.org 

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SOURCE Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center