7593 Background: ALK gene rearrangement is a recently identified molecular alteration in the tumors of a small proportion of NSCLC patients. Previous reports have shown that the rate of EGFR gene mutations may vary in NSCLC patients of different ethnic background. It is unclear if similar differences exist with regards to ALK positivity. We analyzed ALK expression in tumors of AA NSCLC patients and also assessed the epidemiologic features and outcomes of these patients, as well as the occurrence of known oncogene mutations. Methods: We identified 260 tumor tissues of AA NSCLC patients, enrolled on several epidemiologic studies conducted at our institution. Immunohistochemistry, using the anti-Alk D5F3 antibody (Cell Signaling Technology) was used to visualize ALK expression. Fifty-three of these tumors also underwent mutation analysis using the OncoCarta Panel V1 (Sequenom) to evaluate 238 mutations in 19 oncogenes. Results: Of the 260 tumors analyzed, 6 (2.3%, 95% CI- 0.5-4.1%) were ALK positive. All ALK positive patients had adenocarcinoma histology (6/157) while no patients with other NSCLC histologies were ALK positive, p=0.04. There was no difference in the rate of positivity based on sex, 1% (1/99) in males versus 3.1% (5/161) in females, p=0.27. Consistent with prior studies, patients with ALK positive tumors were slightly younger (median age 56 years vs 61 years, p = 0.27) and the positive rate was higher in never smokers 11% (2/18) than in ever smokers 1.6%, p=0.06. There was no correlation of ALK positivity with the stage of the disease at diagnosis. The survival of ALK positive and negative patients, adjusted for age, sex and stage, was similar (HR=0.77; 95% CI 0.19-3.13). Fifty-three tumors have been assessed for oncogene mutations in addition to ALK expression. Of these, 2 (3.8%) were ALK positive and neither of these tumors carried other tested mutations such as EGFR, Kras, PIK3 or AKT. Conclusions: The rate of ALK positive tumors among African-American NSCLC patients is similar to the general population and the demographic features of ALK positive AA patients is also similar to the general ALK positive NSCLC patient population.