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I have been an affiliate member of the American Association for Cancer Research for almost a decade. I have participated in their annual meetings via the Scientist ↔ Survivor Program and have used information from their Annual Progress Report in numerous papers and summaries written over the years.

I have made long-lasting friends as a result of my involvement with the AACR and I appreciate the tremendous work that the organization has undertaken and become involved with on many fronts in the field of cancer.

In 2018 I was privileged to attend the 11th AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. Like many others who are advocates in the cancer community I am aware that there are disparities found in virtually every aspect of the cancer experience. This conference heightened that level of awareness for me. In the attached document, prepared for KC Cure, I will reflect on an overview of kidney cancer.

View or download: Lawing article Disparities in Kidney Cancer care

About the author:

Michael B Lawing lives in Western North Carolina and currently serves as Director of Outreach and Co-Chair of the Patient Advisory Board of KCCure a non-profit organization engaged in funding research in Kidney Cancer and raising patient awareness. He is a Co-Host and former Board Member of the Powerful Patient a Boston-based podcasting organization dealing with medical issues of concern to a variety of patients. Lawing has recently added his cancer and podcast expertise to a team of other cancer survivors and non-profit administrators to form CancerCast.org which focuses on cancer-related topics.

Lawing has served multiple times as a consumer reviewer for cancer research grant proposals for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and as a Spore Grant Review panelist for the National Cancer Institute. He has served as moderator of several online cancer patient forums and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Kidney Cancer Association.