On January 20, 2025, the White House issued an executive order to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility‘ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”1 The FDA also removed information on its website about diversity and inclusion in clinical trials for cancer drugs.
JNCCN is a nonpolitical entity, focused, like any other medical journal, on promoting and disseminating new scientific knowledge and advancements to help patients—in our case patients with cancer—live longer and higher-quality lives.
JNCCN will continue to publish research that seeks to understand the differences or similarities in response to oncologic drugs, access to cancer care, and clinical outcomes among various patient groups. This includes individuals of various races and ethnicities, sexual and gender orientations, and geographic locations. We must separate the political swirling of “DEI” and our scientific and medical focus on promoting equitable health care for all. Understanding how humans and their environment interact with cancer and treatment is critical to improving cancer care for all. We will continue to advocate for all humans to receive equally fair and effective treatment.
Additionally, supporting diverse representation in clinical trials is vital and moral. It is well established that only a small fraction of patients in clinical trials are from underrepresented groups. Therefore, the data gathered from those trials are, by definition, not indicative of the truth in our broader population. That should continue to be remedied.
It is an incredibly promising time in cancer research, with people with cancer living better and longer than ever before. I have no doubt that outcomes will continue to improve and it is our responsibility to make sure that they improve for everyone.
Reference
Trump D. Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing. Executive Order No. 14151. Published January 20, 2025. Accessed February 10, 2025. Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential- actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/
DANIEL M. GEYNISMAN
Daniel M. Geynisman, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center and the Division Chief of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, as well as the Vice Chair for Quality Improvement. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of JNCCN as of May 2024.
Dr. Geynisman clinically sees patients with all urologic malignancies—bladder, kidney, prostate, penile, testicular, and adrenal cancers. His research interests focus on health outcomes evaluations in urologic malignancies, quality improvement in oncology, and new drug development for genitourinary malignancies. He is an active investigator on a number of past and ongoing clinical trials, with a particular focus in bladder and kidney cancer, and he has co-authored more than 130 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.
He serves on the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Testicular Cancer, is on ASCO’s Ethics Committee, and is the prior medical oncology editor for Urologic Oncology.
Dr. Geynisman earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, serving an additional year as chief resident. He then went on to a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago, serving as a chief fellow in his final year of training.
