African-American women are less likely than white women to get cancer, but more likely to die of it often because other diseases and conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure complicate treatment. Dr. Michael Simon, professor of oncology at Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State says socio-economics is partly to blame. African Americans are 13 percent of the U.S. population but 24 percent of the nation's poor. They have limited access to high quality health care and are often diagnosed in the later stages of cancer.