Description: THURSDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Collaborations between researchers and community groups can help ease cancer disparities among minority populations, researchers report.

They based their conclusions on the results of U.S. initiatives launched in Nashville, Tenn. and among the Navajo Nation.

Such partnerships between researchers and community groups can improve the quality of data collection, provide new insight into social factors/help, and result in sustained health improvements in disadvantaged populations, the scientists said.

The initiatives were to be outlined Thursday in Atlanta at an American Association for Cancer Research conference.

Like many communities across the United States, Nashville has experienced a large growth in its Hispanic population, a group whose health care needs are under-studied and not well documented in the academic literature. In response, a group of Nashville-area researchers partnered with community groups to survey the cancer care and