McMaster University pediatric cancer specialist Dr. Ronald Barr says the teen gap in cancer care has been overlooked for far too long. Statistics show that gains in survival rates for teenagers and young adults (age 15 – 29) with cancer are dismal when compared to those for youngsters and older adults with the disease.

Barr is one of the editors of the recently released and first definitive document on the incidence, survival and mortality of 15 – 29 year-olds. Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States, this monograph was a co-operative venture between the Children’s Oncology Group (all 17 pediatric oncology centers in Canada and more than 200 American institutions) and the SEER (Survival Epidemiology and End Results) program.

• Dr. Ronald Barr, professor of pediatrics at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University and chief of hematology-oncology at McMaster Children’s Hospital and co-chairs the Working Group on adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients