PL02-02

Understanding disparities and how to address them has become of increasing scientific interest since the publication in 1999 of Health People 2010 which officially defined addressing disparities as a national priority. In 2000 the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities was established under the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act which required all NIH institutes and centers to develop strategic plans for modifying and eliminating health disparities. Since that time the discourse about health disparities has shifted from their immutability to how they might be addressed and funding for research focused on understanding and addressing disparities has been more available then previously. First this paper considers what appears to be a consensus about how disparities differ from differences in health outcomes. Second, the paper addresses how understanding the difference between differences and disparities introduces new ways of understanding the determinants of adverse breast cancer outcomes, using illustrations from the breast cancer research being done some Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities funded by the National Cancer Institute we consider the determinants that are used to understand differences and disparities in stage at diagnosis..

First AACR International Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities-- Nov 27-30, 2007; Atlanta, GA