Immigrant scientists play a significant role in cancer research in the United States, according to a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy.

After examining the backgrounds of 1,500 researchers at the top seven cancer research centers, the foundation discovered that 42% of these experts had emigrated from another country.

The percentage is even higher at certain leading centers.

At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which has been ranked as the No. 1 cancer treatment facility in the country, 62% of the cancer researchers are immigrants. At Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, 56% of the researchers are foreign-born.

The researchers at the top seven cancer centers hail from 56 countries, but half of them came from just five nations The leading country of origin for U.S.-based cancer researchers is China, which accounts for 21%. Following China is India (10%), Germany and Canada (both 7%), and the United Kingdom (6%).

Four foreign-born cancer researchers have been awarded a Nobel Prize, the most recent being Australian-born Elizabeth Blackburn, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

The Contributions of Immigrants to Cancer Research in America (by Stuart Anderson, National Foundation for American Policy) (pdf)