At the recent 100 Black Men of Chicago Health and Wellness Expo, leaders from the University of Illinois Cancer Center, Genentech and Equal Hope hosted a panel discussion about structural solutions for diverse cancer clinical trials.
The educational and informational series, “Structural Solutions for Diverse Cancer Trials (ASSETS) for Cook County,” debuted at the 100 Black Men of Chicago event where Charles Walton, MBA, a member of the Cancer Center’s Community Advisory Board, is the organization’s executive director. The Chicago chapter Walton runs is part of a nationwide organization that connects business leaders and other adult volunteers with African-American males, ages 13 to 18, to provide mentoring, education, health and wellness, and economic empowerment.
Examples of some structural solutions to help ensure diverse clinical trials include decentralized navigation that allows uninsured and underinsured patients to be on trials even if the hospital with the trial doesn’t accept their insurance or they have no insurance; investigator-initiated trials; changes to clinical trial enrollment criteria; and racial and ethnic concordance in patient-provider relationships.
Diverse Cancer Clinical Trials Experts
Expert panelists for the series’ first installment, “ASSETS for Cook County: Investing in Federally Qualified Health Centers, Safety Net and Community Facilities” at Chicago State University of Chicago’s South Side included Cancer Center Deputy Director VK Gadi, MD, PhD; Cancer Center member and UI Health gastroenterologist Keith Naylor, MD; Equal Hope Executive Director Paris Thomas, PhD; Genentech Director of Healthcare Market in Chicago Sheron Robinson; an All of Us Research Program local coordinator; a clinical trials participant; and a Cancer Center clinical research coordinator.