“Despite advances in early detection, prevention, and treatment, Black men in the U.S. remain disproportionately affected by prostate cancer,” says urologist Arthur Burnett, M.D., the Patrick C. Walsh Professor of Urology. “The likelihood of this disease occurring is 70- to 80-percent greater in Black men, and Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than White men.”

Hoping to address this disparity, Burnett and a group of Black urologists and business and academic colleagues established the Consortium on Disparities of Urologic Conditions (ConDUC), a nonprofit organization, in 2017. “To narrow this racial gap,” Burnett says, “a longitudinal database comprising predominantly Black men with all stages of prostate cancer nationwide is now in the works.”

An executive board member of ConDUC, Burnett is spearheading the participation of Johns Hopkins as a clinical site involved in this registry, called SCOPE (Scientific Consortium on Prostate Cancer Education). “We anticipate that SCOPE will play an important role in enrolling more Black men in clinical research studies, and heightening the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of prostate cancer in this population, ultimately improving their prostate cancer outcomes.”