Health Disparities in Myeloma
Joseph Mikhael MD, MEd, FRCPC
Chief Medical Officer, International Myeloma Foundation, Professor, Translational Genomics Research Institute,
City of Hope Cancer Center
Health Disparities in Myeloma
Joseph Mikhael MD, MEd, FRCPC
Chief Medical Officer, International Myeloma Foundation
Professor, Translational Genomics Research Institute, City of Hope Cancer Center
What are Health Disparities?
•Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
•Health equity generally refers to individuals achieving their highest level of health through the elimination of disparities in health and health care
What are the DRIVERS of Disparities in MM?
1. Systemic racism
2. The Healthcare system
3. Social Determinants of Health
4. Biology of the disease and concomitant comorbidities
5. Delayed Diagnosis
6. Access to Care – Triplets, Transplants, Trials and Car T
7. Lack of diversity, cultural sensitivity and optimal communication in healthcare professionals
A Call to Action
Facts About African Americans and Myeloma
M-Power = Myeloma Power
The core vision of this initiative is to improve the short- and long-term outcomes for African American patients with myeloma.
We want to empower patients and communities to change the course of myeloma…
Enhance access to optimal care by educating myeloma providers about the disparity and how to reduce it
Engage the community to increase awareness and provide support
Shorten the time to diagnosis by educating primary care providers to recognize the disease and order the right tests
M-Power Is Both a National and Local Movement
2023 M-Power Community Workshops
April 1, 2023
50+ attended
81% African American
• 100% rated v good or excellent
• 100% learned something new!
June 17, 2023
50+ attended 68% African American
September 24, 2023
35+ attended
41% African American
November 4, 2023
75+ attended
61% African American
• 80% at the Grace Baptist Church learned of the Workshop through their congregation
• 63% at the Riverside Church location learned of the Workshop from IMF
• 96% of attendees rated the program as excellent
• 92% of the attendees reported learning something new
• 100% plan to share something they learned
• 76% had not previously attended an IMF program
Facebook Live
Education of Primary Care Providers
Our goal is to reduce DELAYS in diagnosis among African Americans by educating the primary care community with a focus on:
• Recognizing the signs and symptoms of myeloma
• Discriminating myeloma from other diagnoses such as diabetes
• Capturing an accurate diagnosis through proper use of testing
• Providing referral guidelines for Hematology and Oncology
• Grand Rounds
• Postcards mailed to 6,000+ PCPs in target cities
• Free PCP CME course “Don’t Miss Myeloma”
• Cobb Institute talk
Talk at NMA Annual Meeting Articles and pending publications
8,000 Learners
Published Articles in 2023
Annual Meeting of the National Medical Association
Jane Cooke Wright Symposium on Health
Disparities
• Hosted by Dr. Edith Mitchell
• Keynote speaker - Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Dr. Mikhael spoke about health disparities in myeloma
Poster Walk
Student research was presented to Yelak Biru, Dr. Mikhael, Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Morgan (CEO of the Cobb Institute) and Dr. Bertagnolli.
Over 400,000 visits to M-Power site!
M-Power Website
Patient Interview On Local News
M-Power Website:
•Web Stats: Over 40k Page views across main, city sites & myeloma.org
•Google PPC targeted web traffic
Email Stats:
•Total Sent: 18 emails
•Total Audience: 38k*
•Open Rate Avg: 31%*
*Note: We have continued to refine lists, contributing to a more engaged audience as evidenced in the Open Rates (The industry standard high-mark is 21%).
M-Minute Promotion Stats:
•Total Sent: 19 emails
•Total Audience: 323k
•Open Rate Avg: 38.91%
M-Power Related Video Stats:
• Total Views: Over 50k
M-Power Connections …And Growing!
2024 and Beyond
Engage
• 2024 Juneteenth Workshop, NYC
• M-Power Richmond – Oct 10, 2024
• Expand online and social media strategy
Educate
• Primary care program in Charlotte
• Lab based education
• Electronic Medical Record Initiative
Enhance
• Clinical Trial Mentor (CTM) as part of the Diversity in Clinical Trials initiative
• Nurse equity decision tool
Juneteenth 2024: Abyssinian Church, Harlem
Key Take Aways
•Health disparities are sadly prevalent across all diseases, but particularly in multiple myeloma
•There are MANY other types of inequity in myeloma, including geography, age, gender, orientation…
•Being aware of these disparities is critical to overcoming them
•The IMF’s M-Power is designed to reduce the inequity with specific emphasis on
• ENGAGING the community to raise awareness of MM
• EDUCATING primary care provides to shorten the time to diagnosis
• ENHANCING the care of patients through increased access delivered in a culturally sensitive manner...
What Can I Do??
•Be more conscious of the topics of health equity
•Evaluate the opportunities in your experience to reduce disparities
•Support the M-Power movement!
