# I-REACH: Infrastructure for Research in Equity, Aging, Cancer and Health

> **NIH NIH R21** · GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $216,418

## Abstract

Cancer is the second most common chronic disease and cause of death in older adults. By 2030, three-
quarters of the 22 million cancer survivors will be 65 and older and the number of survivors from racial/ethnic
minority groups will increase by 99% vs. 31% for Whites. These trends are creating an ethnogeriatric and fiscal
imperative, with healthcare costs of disparities doubling to $50 billion by 2050 due to aging of minority groups
and persistently low quality of life and survival. We are ill-prepared to address these crises because there is
limited evidence to guide clinical care or efforts to reduce disparities among older cancer survivors. This
paucity of data is exacerbated by the low numbers of underrepresented minority (URM) scientists leading
studies and limited engagement of minority stakeholders to enhance trust in research, resulting in an under-
representation of older minority survivors in studies. Progress has been further hampered by the fact that while
researchers from aging and oncology each study disparities, there is no infrastructure integrating these
disciplines. To fill this urgent gap, the “Infrastructure for Research in Equity, Aging, Cancer and Health” (I-
REACH) will use a multi-level disparities framework to integrate geroscience and stakeholder perspectives into
transdisciplinary research bridging the fields of aging, disparities and cancer. I-REACH brings together under
one umbrella the accumulated expertise of four cancer center hubs (Georgetown, University of Maryland,
Karmanos/Wayne State, UCLA), stakeholders, all the major NIA Center programs and national geriatrics,
gerontology and cancer organizations. The goals of I-REACH are to: 1) expand the scientific workforce and
increase the proportion of URM scientists committed to, and supported in careers at the intersection of aging,
disparities and cancer, and 2) deploy this workforce to accelerate discovery and provide evidence for
interventions to improve the health of all older cancer survivors. These goals will be accomplished with three
Cores and two Programs in overlapping phases using a distributed resource, distance-learning approach. In
the two-year R21 phase, we develop, implement and begin to evaluate Cores (Aim 1) and prepare for R33
transition: a Career Development Core providing a mentoring program and a foundational curriculum; a Data
Resources Core enabling use of secondary data to fill knowledge gaps in our disparities framework; and a
Stakeholder Core to integrate stakeholder perspectives and support recruitment of older minorities. In the
three-year R33 phase, the Cores will be deployed to provide a two-year mentored Scholars program for pre-
doctoral, doctoral and early stage to senior scientists (Aim 2) and a Pilot program (Aim 3) funding small grants
to address evidence gaps in our multi-level framework and build sustainability and disseminate results (Aim 4).
Eighty-six scientists (65% women and 36% URM) have already agreed to participate. I-R...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10707516
- **Project number:** 5R21AG075008-02
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lucile L. Adams-Campbell
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $216,418
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-30 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10707516

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10707516, I-REACH: Infrastructure for Research in Equity, Aging, Cancer and Health (5R21AG075008-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10707516. Licensed CC0.

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