Health Disparities and Health Equity

The Behavioral Research Program (BRP) seeks to eliminate cancer disparities through research that addresses the multilevel, biopsychosocial, and behavioral mechanisms that contribute to disparities across the cancer control continuum and throughout the human lifespan.

About Health Disparities and Health Equity

Health disparities (HD) are closely linked with social, environmental, and/or economic disadvantage. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group, religion, socioeconomic status, age, mental health, cognitive functioning, sensory or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographic location (place/context), or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.

While health disparity research delineates the process by which different groups face challenges in achieving the highest level of health possible, health equity (HE) is the attainment of the highest level of health for all people. Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and health care disparities.

Eradicating health disparities and achieving health equity is at the forefront of BRP's mission.

Areas of Research Emphasis

BRP funds innovative health equity research with potential downstream benefits in reducing cancer disparities. Behavioral and social science research related to cancer disparities and health equity may include the following areas of examination:

Behavioral and biopsychosocial studies that engage individuals and segments of the US population that have been underrepresented, underserved, and excluded from research in cancer control
Studies that take a multilevel perspective to communicate cancer risk factors and/or promote healthy lifestyle behaviors
Behavioral and communications research aimed at understanding how to address health misinformation and disseminate evidence-based, culturally tailored cancer information to the public
Policy-level research that evaluates the impact of regulations on reducing health disparities

Selected Funding Opportunities Related to Health Equity in Behavioral Research

Title	Announcement #	Code	Clinical Research	Expiration Date	Contact
Tobacco Control Policies to Promote Health Equity More Information	PAR-20-302	R01	Clinical Trial Optional	September 08, 2023	Margaret Mayer 240-276-6433 margaret.mayer@nih.gov Annette Kaufman 240-276-6706 kaufmana@mail.nih.gov
Tobacco Control Policies to Promote Health Equity More Information	PAR-20-303	R21	Clinical Trial Optional	September 08, 2023	Margaret Mayer 240-276-6433 margaret.mayer@nih.gov Annette Kaufman 240-276-6706 kaufmana@mail.nih.gov
Stimulating Research to Understand and Address Hunger, Food, and Nutrition Insecurity	NOT-OD-22-135			November 29, 2024	Tanya Agurs-Collins 240-276-6956 collinsta@mail.nih.gov
Patient-Clinician Relationship: Improving Health outcomes in Populations that Experience Health Care Disparities	PAR-22-064	R01	Clinical Trial Optional	January 08, 2025	Sallie J. Weaver 240-276-6254 sallie.weaver@nih.gov Amanda Acevedo 240-276-5896 amanda.acevedo@nih.gov
Leveraging Health Information Technology (Health IT) to Address and Reduce Health Care Disparities	PAR-22-145	R01	Clinical Trial Optional	May 08, 2025	Heather D'Angelo 240-276-6597 heather.dangelo@nih.gov
Preventive Interventions to Address Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Populations that Experience Health Disparities	NOT-OD-22-154			September 08, 2025	Susan Czajkowski 240-276-5871 susan.czajkowski@nih.gov

View All Funding Announcements

BRP Featured Grants Related to Health Equity in Behavioral Research

Project Title	Project Number	PI Name	Organization Name
Improving Uptake of Genetic Cancer Risk Assessment in African American Women	5R21CA236496-02	Vanessa B. Sheppard, Ph.D.	Virginia Commonwealth University
Ethnicity and Lung Cancer Survival: A Test of the Hispanic Sociocultural Hypothesis	1R01CA262719-01	John M. Ruiz, Ph.D.	University of Arizona
FOOD (Food to Overcome Outcomes Disparities)	5R01CA230446-04	Francesca M. Gany, M.D., M.S.	Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research
NOURISH-T+: a Randomized Control Trial Targeting Parents in Promoting Healthy Eating and Exercise Behaviors in Pediatric Cancer Survivors with Overweight/Obesity	5R01CA240319-03	Marilyn Stern, Ph.D., C.R.C.	University of South Florida
Technology Facilitated Behavioral Intervention for Depression Among Diverse Patients in Ambulatory Oncology	R37CA255875-02	Betina Yanez, Ph.D.	Northwestern University at Chicago
Culturally-Targeted Communication to Promote Sars-Cov-2 Antibody Testing in Saliva: Enabling Evaluation of Inflammatory Pathways in COVID-19 Racial	1E01CA260469-01	Todd Lucas, Ph.D.	Michigan State University
Tobacco Retail Policy Innovation to Reduce Health Disparities	5R01CA229238-03	Ruth E. Malone, Ph.D., R.N.	University of California, San Francisco
Adoption, Diffusion, and Implementation of Tobacco 21 Policies to Address Health Disparities	5R01CA231139-04	Christine D. Delnevo, Ph.D., M.P.H.	Rbhs-School of Public Health

View All Active BRP Grants

Featured Webinars

Intersectionality of Obesity, Cancer, and Health Disparities Webinar Series

This four-part series aimed to enhance the understanding of the intersection of cancer, obesity, and health disparities within racial/ethnic minoritized populations.

Achieving Equity in Cancer Pain Management Webinar Series

This webinar series takes a multilevel perspective to examine the factors that individually and jointly affect disparities in the quality and outcomes of cancer pain management, and it considers approaches to reduce the unequal burden of suffering.

Recent Selected BRP Staff Publications in Cancer Disparities

Publications

2022

Brown AGM, Shi S, Adas S, Boyington JEA, Cotton PA, Jirles B, Rajapakse N, Reedy J, Regan K, Xi D, Zappalà G, Agurs-Collins T. A Decade of Nutrition and Health Disparities Research at NIH, 2010-2019. Am J Prev Med. 2022 Apr 22:S0749-3797(22)00126-X. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.02.012. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35469699.
Arauz RF, Mayer M, Reyes-Guzman C, Ryan BM. Racial Disparities in Cigarette Smoking Behaviors and Differences Stratified by Metropolitan Area of Residence. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 2;19(5):2910. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052910. PMID: 35270603
Jensen JD, Shannon J, Iachan R, Deng Y, Kim SJ, Demark-Wahnefried W, Faseru B, Paskett ED, Hu J, Vanderpool RC, Lazovich D, Mendoza JA, Shete S, Robertson LB, Balkrishnan R, Briant KJ, Haaland B, Haggstrom DA, Fuemmeler BF; Examining Rural-Urban Differences in Fatalism and Information Overload: Data from 12 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2022 Feb;31(2):393-403. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-21-0355. Epub 2022 Jan 28. PMID: 35091459; PMCID: PMC9035270.
Lama Y, Davidoff AJ, Vanderpool RC, Jensen RE. Telehealth Availability and Use of Related Technologies Among Medicare-Enrolled Cancer Survivors: Cross-sectional Findings From the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Jan 25;24(1):e34616

2021