The Search for Answers Behind Rising Cancer Rates

Behind every public health statistic is a massive, patient level dataset waiting to reveal patterns that would otherwise stay hidden. Drs. Iona Cheng, Scarlett Lin Gomez, and Salma Shariff-Marco, professors of epidemiology at UCSF who oversee the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry, will show how they mine these enormous cancer databases to uncover shifting disparities across population groups.

Their team’s DREAM Lab has identified troubling trends within Asian American communities specifically, including rising breast cancer incidence among young Asian American women and elevated lung cancer risk among Asian American women who have never smoked. These findings move research from broad statistical patterns toward focused studies chasing the underlying causes.

The team will also introduce a groundbreaking new effort: the first ever next generation cohort study dedicated to understanding the causes of cancer in Asian American communities, a population that has long been understudied in cancer research.