Cancer research in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations: accelerating cancer knowledge by acknowledging and leveraging heterogeneity.

The Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population is large, growing, and extremely heterogeneous. Not only do they bear unique burdens of incidence and outcomes for certain cancer types, they exhibit substantial variability in cancer incidence and survival patterns across the ethnic groups. By acknowledging and leveraging this heterogeneity through investing in cancer research within these populations, we have a unique opportunity to accelerate the availability of useful and impactful cancer knowledge. See all the articles in this CEBP Focus section, "Cancer in Asian and Pacific Islander Populations." ©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.