For more than 30 years, Otis Brawley, M.D., has been promoting cancer prevention, early detection, and high-quality treatment through cancer research and education. In a recent article with The ASCO Post, Dr. Brawley explained how his background and parents, who were dedicated to education, lead him along this path.
Raised in a traditional blue-collar family, his parents expected him to attend college. His father, while unable to get an education beyond high school, nonetheless fostered a deep commitment to making sure that Dr. Brawley and his sisters had one. Through his medical education, training, and professional life, he has worked to reduce health disparities and improve cancer education, training, and care for all persons.
Dr. Brawley started his cancer prevention and detection training at the National Cancer Institute in 1988, working on screening trials and heading the disparities office for several years. He later worked as Medical Director of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and for 12 years at the American Cancer Society as Chief Medical and Scientific Officer. A natural communicator, Dr. Brawley was a contributor to CNN and wrote a book about the inequities of the healthcare system in the United States.
A globally recognized expert in cancer prevention and control, Dr. Brawley currently directs community outreach programs for underserved populations throughout the state of Maryland and leads a broad interdisciplinary research effort on cancer health disparities at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. His work focuses primarily on closing racial, economic, and social disparities in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer in the United States and around the world.
To learn more about Dr. Brawley, read The ASCO Post article.