Pharma giant Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE: LLY) (ETR: LLY) is funding a major three-year Healthcare Improvement Grant to tackle lung cancer disparities in Indigenous communities across North America.
The company is awarding the unspecified sum to New York’s Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, which first rolled out the program in 2025 and announced a broader expansion on Mar. 24.
Officials from Roswell Park and the local Seneca Nation gathered at a press conference in Salamanca on Tuesday to highlight the initiative named Healthy Workforce, Productive Community.
This campaign will engage Tribal Nations, workplaces and government entities throughout the United States and Canada. The grant equips these groups with lung cancer screening workflow knowledge, patient navigation services and wellness education that will reach thousands of at-risk individuals.
Roswell Park’s Department of Indigenous Cancer Health is leading the effort. This program will offer five educator-led group modules on early detection, lung wellness, resiliency, stress management and healthy goal setting. Trained Indigenous patient navigators will guide participants from screening referrals through treatment questions.
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Indigenous knowledge intersects with modern medicine
Participants will engage with traditional foods, storytelling, games and physical activities alongside Western screening tools.
“Supported by Eli Lilly, this work is rooted in our ways,” said Rodney Haring, Chair of Roswell Park’s Department of Indigenous Cancer Health, “meeting people where they are, strengthening what already exists and walking alongside our communities.”
Roswell Park’s virtual lung health resources will integrate into employee training and benefits at partnered Native nations. Seneca Nation leaders, including President J. Conrad Seneca and Councillor Todd Gates, are praising the partnership for breaking cycles of elevated disease rates through what they feel is culturally informed care.
This Eli Lilly grant addresses urgent realities beyond the core announcement. Lung cancer ranks as the leading cause of cancer death among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people, who also record the highest smoking rates in many communities. The American Cancer Society says that these populations face the highest incidence and mortality for several cancers, with non-Hispanic AIAN individuals showing an 11 per cent higher risk of cancer death than Caucasian populations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also confirms higher overall cancer incidence, driven by late-stage diagnoses, limited access in rural areas and environmental factors.
The program builds on Roswell Park’s earlier successes, such as patient navigation work funded by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY) (FRA: BRM) Foundation. It positions the cancer centre’s Indigenous-focused department, unique among National Cancer Institute facilities, as a national model.
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