Community & Health Equity

ASSETS Series

The University of Illinois Cancer Center ASSETS Series: Structural Solutions to Clinical Research Excellence explores the most effective ways to collaborate with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and safety net hospitals to boost clinical trial participation among underrepresented populations.

Join Us: New Event

The next event in the series will be held on Thursday, November 13, 2025, at the Humboldt Park Health Wellness Center, 2933 West Division Street in Chicago.

Click this link for details and to register.

Physicians, nurses, clinical staff and researchers, who work with patients from cancer screening through diagnosis, treatment and survivorship, along with community leaders and residents, are invited to attend. 

We are eager and excited to have community leaders and residents join us as we talk about how to invest in the hospitals and clinics in our communities so that everyone has the best healthcare and access to tomorrow’s medicine.

The ASSETS event held in August 2025 drew a crowd of more than 70 people, including Illinois lawmakers, community leaders, cancer survivors, physicians, nurses, clinical staff, researchers and student trainees. They gathered at Loretto Hospital in Chicago's West Side Austin neighborhood to talk about how to invest in hospitals and clinics in communities so everyone has access to the best care and tomorrow’s medicines. 

Among those who attended were Illinois State Senator Kimberly Lightfoot, MPA; Illinois State Representatives La Shawn K. Ford and Camille Lily, MHA; UI Health Mile Square Health Center Director of Clinical Innovations and Research Judes Fleurimont, MPH; Cancer Center leaders; Loretto and Sinai Chicago representatives; as well as the Director of Health Equity and Clinical Research at Genentech, which sponsored the event.  

More About ASSETS

When healthcare workers at FQHCs and safety net facilities are well integrated and trusted within their communities, patients are more inclined to heed their advice. By leveraging these trusted relationships, the goal is to determine if this approach can enhance enrollment and completion rates in clinical trials.

The ASSETS project, led by Yamilé Molina, PhD, the Cancer Center Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), began in August 2023. The first event was a panel discussion at the 100 Black Men of Chicago Health and Wellness Expo at Chicago State University. Following that were two more in-person events: a pre-conference workshop that October in conjunction with MOLA (Medical Organization for Latino Advancement), a non-profit association of Hispanic/Latino physicians and health professionals, and then in November at Loretto Hospital in the West Side Chicago community of Austin. In December, an ASSETS webinar engaged leaders from National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pharmaceutical companies and cancer advocacy organizations.

Molina is among the architects of the Cancer Center’s equitable precision oncology mission to diversify enrollment in clinical trials, and that success is a testament to the robust partnership between the Cancer Center offices of Oncology Clinical Trials and Community Engagement and Health Equity in COE.