“If a provider doesn’t bring up” the possibility of an at-home test, Dr. Issaka said, “patients should feel empowered to ask about it.” Colon cancer screenings, of any type, “are considered non-urgent,” she said. “But they’re not optional.”

- Paula Span, "A Colonoscopy Alternative Comes Home"

“We’ll have to figure out a way to balance screening these newly eligible individuals while not taking resources away from those who are over 50 and at the highest risk. Health systems and individuals involved in screening will have to pay particular attention to not worsen the existing disparities.” - Dr. Rachel Issaka

- Brian Donohue, "Colonoscopies should start at 45, draft guideline says"

“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented drops in breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screenings.” Dr. Issaka said. "Certainly this creates a backlog of cancer screenings that need to occur, which poses very significant challenges for health systems as they’re adapting to this new state of health care..."

- Will Pass, "Pandemic worsens disparities in GI and liver disease". GI & Hepatology News

"Remote tests for colorectal cancer aren’t used as often as they could be, says Dr. Rachel Issaka... 'In this era of social distancing, this really is an opportunity for us to start to use these tests to a greater extent,' Issaka says."

- Ducharme, Jamie; Barone, Emily. "How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Changed Cancer Care, in 4 Charts. Time Magazine

"Eliminating structural racism in health care requires a radical reimagination of the medical profession and taking sometimes uncomfortable action to create change."

- Issaka, Rachel B. " Good for Us All" JAMA: A Piece of My Mind

"It is critical that medical specialties identify and develop plans to mitigate the unintended consequences of the CMS recommendation that was meant to help manage limited health care resources at the peak of the pandemic."

- Issaka, Rachel. "The Fight against COVID-19 Threatens to Cause Collateral Health Damage", Scientific American

"Medicine must first acknowledge its own kind of role in perpetuating structural racism in medicine by exploiting patients, by excluding individuals... And then once we recognize that, we need to teach that in a very structured and systematic way to those who are entering the profession... And once we teach it, then we need to measure if our teaching is working at actually reducing the ways in which new learners and new physicians are interacting with their own colleagues and with their own patients." - Dr. Rachel Issaka

- Garde, Damian, Robbins, Rebecca, Feurstein, Adam. "Coronavirus vaccine data, saving the U.S.’s pandemic response, and systemic racism in medicine", Stat News, The Readout Loud

"A common belief is that screening is only necessary for those who are experiencing signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer, but that’s not true, said the Hutch’s Dr. Rachel Issaka, a gastroenterologist who studies how health systems can increase rates of colorectal cancer screening. "

- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. "Debunking 6 Misconceptions About Colorectal Cancer: Expert tips for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in March". Newswise.com

"Many low-income and uninsured patients don't have a follow-up colonoscopy after abnormal results on a colon cancer screening test -- even if they're in a "safety-net" health program, a new study finds... The research was led by Dr. Rachel Issaka, a gastroenterology fellow at the University of California, San Francisco."

- Robert Preidt, "Some Low-Income, Uninsured Patients Aren't Referred for Colonoscopy", Health Day