The 12th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research: Collaborating for Impact

Reinvigorated by the stark inequities laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as global movements for racial justice, practitioners, researchers, and students of global health have been increasingly active in highlighting the field's colonial legacies and systems designed to protect the interests of colonizers.Researchers are challenging pervasive power asymmetries and pushing for a paradigm shift in how research is conducted, with a particular focus on ensuring collaborations are true partnerships with shared decision-making and leadership.1,2 A recent study of almost 700 oncology randomized clinical trials found that the vast majority (92%) were led by researchers in high-income countries (HIC).Moreover, HIC-led trials were more likely to be published in high-impact journals, compared with studies led by researchers in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), even though the studies from LMICs were more likely to identify effective therapies in their trial settings, and regardless of whether the studies had positive or negative results. 3 Power imbalances at the center of global research collaborations are driven in part by funders, mostly from HIC countries, who influence what types of research are conducted and who receives acknowledgment for the work.A recent cross-sectional study of publications associated with United States (US) National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded grants involving researchers in LMICs found widespread authorship disparities, 4,5 where over half of publications reviewed from NCI funded grants involving collaborations in LMICs did not include any author affiliated with an LMIC institution.These disparities translate into a lack of inclusivity in the literature; voices of HIC researchers are elevated and the contextual knowledge of LMIC researchers is reduced, resulting in a deficit in local knowledge in the journals of record, diminishing the field as a whole.5,6 The global cancer research community has a lot to gain from more genuine partnerships.7,8 Having patients, advocates, policymakers, providers, and program implementers involved in research from the beginning increases the likelihood that research is grounded in, and responsive to, a community's needs and priorities.This participatory approach facilitates opportunities to hasten translation of knowledge generation to knowledge implementation.9 Moreover, these partners are the very groups who will ultimately lead and sustain the conversion of results into policy and practice and, therefore, should be included at all levels from research conceptualization through intervention co-creation and to dissemination. 10 The theme of the 12th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research (ASGCR) was "Collaborating for Impact" and explicitly highlighted collaborations where power balances are addressed, emphasizing parity from ideation through implementation, and ensuring research questions and outcomes matter to and elevate voices from the communities where the research takes place.These ideas are essential to NCI Center for Global Health (CGH) and its partners, who join efforts each year in organizing ASGCR, and are embodied in the CGH 2021-2025 Strategic Plan.11 The 12th ASGCR held virtually on May 6-9, 2024, explicitly sought to create opportunities for researchers and program implementers working in LMICs to share their work; provide a venue for the global oncology research community to exchange information and identify potential areas for collaboration; and share science-based initiatives reducing the burden of cancer globally.