The Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation is proud to announce that PC3I Fellow John Lin, MD, has won a Young Investigator Award from Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. The award provides funding to promising investigators as they transition from fellows to faculty.  

Dr. Lin will focus on access to oral cancer drugs, which can often be more convenient than other treatment but with come with a number of logistical and financial barriers. High out-of-pocket costs paired with difficulties obtaining insurance approval present barriers particularly to lower income patients. Furthermore, while specialty pharmacies provide education and navigation assistance to patients, it is hypothesized that socioeconomically vulnerable patients may have inferior access to these pharmacies and services. Thus, Dr. Lin will examine if there are certain patient populations who are less likely to adhere to oral medications or less likely to access specialty pharmacies, and if unequal use of these pharmacies results in disparities in medication adherence. Lin hopes to inform Medicare policies and other initiatives to increase patient access to financial navigation and education when it comes to oral cancer drugs.