Dr. Michael Simon, professor of medicine in oncology for the Barbara Ann Karmanos Center at Wayne State University, and five other investigators, studied the differences between 10,314 white and black women in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties who were diagnosed with breast cancer from 1988-1992. After tracking them for about eight years, their findings released in May revealed that white women are more likely to develop breast cancer while African-American women are more likely to die from it. "It's not rocket science," Simon says. "The African-American women were more likely to live in disadvantaged areas. They were less likely to have a lumpectomy and radiation and more likely to have a mastectomy." Simon says data indicate that African-American women generally are not getting early detection screenings, and that's why their cancers are discovered at more advanced stages, lessening the chances of survival.