Podcasts about cancer clinical trials

In this episode of the Onc Now Podcast, host Jonathan Sackier is joined by Janice Walshe, Consultant Medical Oncologist at St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. They explore the economic realities of cancer diagnostics, fertility preservation in patients with breast cancer, and the impact of international collaboration on the future of clinical trials.  Timestamps:    00:00 – Introduction  03:25 – Economic disparities and oncology care in Ireland  07:20 – Neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer  10:13 – Spotlight on invasive lobular carcinoma  12:36 – Fertility preservation in breast cancer  15:20 – Menopause after cancer  19:09 – The latest clinical trials in Ireland  21:50 – International trials and research projects  23:50 – Walshe's three wishes for healthcare 

Can a glass of pomegranate juice really help slow the growth of prostate cancer? In this episode of The Moss Report, Ben Moss and Dr. Ralph W. Moss take a deep dive into the clinical research on pomegranate and cancer—especially prostate cancer. They explore landmark studies from Johns Hopkins and UCLA, uncover the political backstory behind the POMx extract, and offer practical guidance for integrating pomegranate into a cancer-fighting or preventative diet. Dr. Moss also shares his personal use of pomegranate powder, discusses antioxidant synergy, and introduces options that reduce sugar intake without sacrificing benefits. A compelling look at how traditional foods meet cutting-edge science. “Fill up that self-help space with scientifically documented ways to reduce your cancer risk.” – Dr. Ralph W. Moss

In episode 83 of the Summits Podcast, Vince Todd, Jr. is joined by Nicole Rule, Associate Vice President in Oncology Clinical Trial Acceleration at Eli Lilly and Company. Tune in as Nicole shares the benefits of cancer clinical trials and the cancer story that fuels her fight against the disease. The content and views expressed are my own and do not represent the views of my employer, Eli Lilly and Company.

Send us a textWhat if we told you that cancer care could be kinder to both the planet and the patient? Join us for another enlightening and educational conversation with Professor Craig Underhill, Dr. Kate Clarke and Professor Christopher Jackson.Laugh along with Craig who, despite battling 'man flu,' sheds light on reducing the climate toxicity of cancer care. Meanwhile, Kate reassures listeners by debunking myths about the safety of oestrogens in hormone replacement therapy and IVF in patients with breast cancer, shifting focus to the real culprit—progesterone. CJ guides you through the intricacies of cross-trial comparisons in advanced melanoma, breaking down Professor Georgina Long's study on nivolumab-based therapies with a focus on the utility of propensity scores.We also spotlight initiatives aimed at improving cancer outcomes for First Nations communities in Australia, such as the introduction of cancer navigators. Dive into the latest episode of The Oncology Journal Club Podcast for a blend of humour, hope and hard-hitting discussions that promise to challenge and inspire.For papers, bios and other links visit the Show Notes on our website.For the latest oncology news visit www.oncologynews.com.au.We invite healthcare professionals to join The Oncology Network for free - you'll also receive our free weekly publication The Oncology Newsletter.The Oncology Podcast - An Australian Oncology Perspective

Immunotherapy and targeted therapies have transformed the way patients are treated and allow more patients than ever before to survive stage IV diagnoses. Other key advancements in oncology being prioritized in Puerto Rico today include early detection and prevention efforts. However, a lack of education, access, and health insurance coverage often prevents community members from timely cancer screenings. The same factors contribute to a lack of diversity in clinical trials, as noted by Dr. Marcia Cruz-Correa. Both these important issues require a community-based approach, through building advisory groups, working with local oncologists, and reaching community members where they are in a way they understand. Guest:  Marcia Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD, AGAF, FASGEExecutive DirectorCentro Comprensivo de Cáncer de la Universidad de PuertoSan Juan, Puerto Rico Quote:  “Less than 5% of patients in the US participate in clinical trials...and less than 5% of that [group] is diverse. That's a huge disadvantage...If you don't include the patients who will eventually be taking the drugs developed by pharmaceutical companies, how do you know it will work for them?” Read more global perspectives from the international panelists who spoke at the October ACCC 41st National Oncology Conference in this ACCCBuzz blog. Additional Resources:  Bridging the Gap: Early Detection of Cancer for the Medically Underserved – Oncology Issues Effective Patient-Provider Communication for Colorectal Cancer Screening Multi-Cancer Early Detection: Legislative Landscape— [PODCAST] EP 99 Examining Clinical Research for Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia 2023 NMQF Summit: Improving Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials

Professor Bruce Robinson shares the good news with Bill Woods that the Northern Sydney Local Health District has secured a global first partnership with world-renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.  This comes after a  $20 million donation from the late Kay Van Norton Poche AO, who was treated by two of their doctors.  Kay wanted to see all Australians have access to the same level of clinical trial as she did which prolonged her life for seven years after a devastating colon cancer diagnosis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with David Cosgrove, MD, about implementing real-world utilization of clinical trials, the importance of diversity in clinical trials and more. •    Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 1:17 •    About Cosgrove 1:26 •    The interview 2:54 •    How did you make your way from Ireland to Portland, Oregon?  3:18 •    As a fellow GI oncologist, what are you excited about in the cancer research space?  6:13 •    How can we realistically address disparities in cancer care to deliver the latest breakthroughs to patients?  8:54 •    Jain and Cosgrove on the challenges GI cancers experience in terms of delivery of cancer care compared to colleagues in other spaces. 11:22 •    What excites you about what's happening in oncology right now, and where we're going in this space? 13:30 •    How did you end up as medical director at Compass Oncology?  15:15 •    What are you specifically working on now, and where do you hope to see it go in the next five years?  17:25 •    How do we get more patients from different backgrounds into clinical trials, and why is it important that we do that? 19:05 •    Jain and Cosgrove on challenges facing patient guidelines and qualifications for clinical trials. 21:09 •    If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 23:41 •    How to contact Cosgrove 24:45 •    Thanks for listening 25:49 David Cosgrove, MD, serves as the medical director of Compass Oncology in Portland, Oregon, and specializes in general adult oncology with advanced subspecialty expertise in gastrointestinal cancers. We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Cosgrove can be reached via email david.cosgrove@usoncology.com.   Disclosures: Jain and Cosgrove report no relevant financial disclosures. 

Clinical trials can be lifesaving for many cancer patients, so why are participation rates so low? Obstacles like the cost of travel and childcare keep too many patients from receiving experimental care. Our experts explain how the system needs to be restructured to increase access and save lives. Learn More: https://radiohealthjournal.org/cancer-clinical-trials-the-harsh-reality-of-potentially-lifesaving-care Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Immunotherapy and cellular therapeutics represent the future of cancer care. These biological therapies involve manipulating the body's cells to reactivate and strengthen their abilities to attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy is a precision cancer treatment and is considered the future of cancer treatment by the National Cancer Institute. Other, more traditional, types of cancer treatment include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Immunotherapy is a type of treatment for a variety of cancers that harnesses one's own immune system to fight his or her specific cancer cells. Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL therapy, is a type of immunotherapy and part of the body's natural response to cancer. TIL cells are naturally occurring immune cells that are on constant surveillance to recognize, attack and kill cancer cells. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved lifileucel (Amtagvi), the first treatment for cancer that uses TILs. On this episode, Dr. Roy Jensen, vice chancellor and director of KU Cancer Center speaks with Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq, associate professor of hematologic malignancies and cellular therapeutics at the University of Kansas Medical Center, about this exciting topic. Links from this Episode: Learn more about TIL therapy via the National Cancer Institute Read the frequently asked questions about immunotherapy on the KU Cancer Center website Learn about Dr. Mushtaq Read the FDA's announcement of approval for TIL therapy Learn more about cancer clinical trials at KU Cancer Center After listening to this episode, we invite YOU to be a part of the podcast! We want to hear your thoughts on the conversations we have here, topics you'd like to learn more about and any questions you may have for our guests. Call our Bench to Bedside hotline at 913-588-3880 and leave us a voicemail, or you can email your comments and questions to benchtobedside@kumc.edu. Your comments may be shared on a future episode!

For cancer patients, medicines administered in clinical trials can help save or extend lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this special episode of the Bench to Bedside podcast, join us behind-the-scenes at The University of Kansas Cancer Center's annual research week, a multi-day event bringing together members of our research programs and the cancer center community. More than 270 people participated in this year's Cancer Research Week activities, which included scientific presentations by our research faculty and students, as well as members of our patient research advocacy group, PIVOT. The week concluded with KU Cancer Center's annual research symposium, a day-long event that brings together our members and highlights the latest in cancer research and treatment. We asked attendees to share why research week is important to them and how events like the research symposium expand their views and support research collaborations, as well as some of their favorite highlights from the week. We hope you enjoy this look “behind the curtain” as you listen to some of the voices behind the research at KU Cancer Center. Do you have questions about cancer? Call our Bench to Bedside Hotline at (913) 588-3880 or email us at benchtobedside@kumc.edu, and your comment or question may be shared on an upcoming episode! If you appreciated this episode, please share, rate, subscribe and leave a review. To ensure you get our latest updates, For the latest updates, follow us on the social media channel of your choice by searching for KU Cancer Center. Links from this Episode:  Learn more about KU Cancer Center's research week Learn about our PIVOT, our patient research advocacy group Explore KU Cancer Center's research programs Read about KU Cancer Center's shared resources and core facilities Learn about Dr. Simon Lee and cancer workforce equity

Adding a clinical trials navigator to this practice team required a business case that demonstrated return on investment. After a successful onboarding, this navigator is now the point person to help identify patients appropriate for clinical trials and to help busy clinicians with enrollment criteria and trial selection.   Guest: Carrie Friedman, BSN, RN, OCN Clinical Trials Navigator Virginia Cancer Specialists, PC   “The number of physicians across all our sites that are referring patients for clinical trials has increased…we easily take over 100 referrals a month. Looking forward, we may even need a second navigator who can replicate my role.”   This podcast is part of an ongoing series from ACCC's peer-related journal, Oncology Issues. For a deeper dive into this content, read Friedman's article, Increasing Clinical Trial Accrual Through Implementation of a Clinical Trials Navigator. ACCC members can access the complete Volume 38, Number 4 issue online.   Resources: Just ASK! How One Healthcare System is Operationalizing This Implicit Bias Program to Ensure Equitable Access to Clinical Trials The ASCO-ACCC Joint Initiative to Increase Diversity in Clinical Trials Virtual Navigation to Clinical Trials New Legislation Expands Access to Clinical Trials Older Adults with Cancer & Clinical Trials

"There's great potential and power in acknowledging this. It's self to self, self to others single, self to others plural, and self to others at the macro level. You begin to appreciate how beautiful it can be all around you, how much we all need help, and how very related we are in our own ways." In episode 62, Dr. Leigh Boehmer emphasizes the crucial role of self-awareness in understanding and practicing intersectionality, which goes beyond recognizing one's own complexities and involves acknowledging the unique layers of others. Leigh is the Chief Medical Officer for the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) and is responsible for assessing educational needs and designing interventions for multidisciplinary cancer care teams serving patients in community oncology programs and practices. He also serves as a liaison with external stakeholders, including patient advocacy organizations, policy experts, and governmental agencies, to advance the objectives of the ACCC membership and projects.Leigh describes how ACCC responded to health disparities that were exacerbated by the pandemic, and how it acted as a convener to connect individual community needs with the mechanisms necessary to address inequities. Finding ways to enhance human connection and practice empathy becomes even more crucial as technology continues to advance, with the rise of big data, AI, and machine learning. Leigh highlights ACCC initiatives that foster connection and build equity such as the  ACCC-ASCO implicit bias training program, which, combined with a clinical trial site self-assessment tool increased knowledge among participants of health disparities and strategies to address implicit bias and diversity in cancer clinical trials. The FDA requirement for the pharmaceutical industry to develop Diversity Action Plans from July 2023 is an additional, granular step toward addressing diversity and the broader social, political, and economic issues affecting cancer care. Join us for a conversation about how continuing education, professional development, and the oncology community can give form to intersectionality and equity by asking the right questions, bringing the right people to the table, and listening.Connect with LeighEmail: lboehmer@accc-cancer.orgAssociation of Community Cancer CentersLinkedInResourcesBarret N, et al. An Assessment of the Feasibility and Utility of an ACCC-ASCO Implicit Bias Training Program to Enhance Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials. JCO Oncol Pract. 2023 Apr;19(4):e570-e580. Guerra C et al. Increasing Racial and Ethnic Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Cancer Treatment Trials: Evaluation of an ASCO-Association of Community Cancer Centers Site Self-Assessment. JCO Oncol.Pract. 2023;19(4): e581-e588.⭐ Review the podcast

“I think it's important to ensure that you consider each person uniquely. Because no matter how much I know or the nurse knows about the population, everybody is a little bit different. It's really important to personalize every approach and ask them what they know and meet them where they are,” ONS member Reneé Kurz, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, director of clinical research operations at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about increasing diversity in clinical trials. You can earn free NCPD contact hours by completing the evaluation we've linked in the episode notes. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by May 19, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to increasing diversity in clinical trials. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 19: The Practical Side of Clinical Trials Episode 126: Oncology Clinical Trials and Drug Development ONS Voice articles: Overcome Inequalities in Cancer Treatment Options Across the Ages Balance Hope and Quality of Life for Phase I Clinical Trials Drug Clinical Trials Focus on Efficacy Over Quality of Life The Case of the Clinical Trials Consultation Traits That Make You a Great Nurse Also Lead to Success as a Clinical Trials PI Use ClinicalTrials.gov to Find the Right Cancer Research Studies for Your Patients Nursing Roles in Clinical Trials ONS Oncology Clinical Trials Nurse Competencies ONS Clinical Trials Huddle Card™ Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Cancer Clinical Trials: Improving Awareness and Access for Minority and Medically Underserved Communities Oncology Nursing Forum article: The Role of Oncology Nurses in Discussing Clinical Trials ONS book: Manual for Clinical Trials Nursing (third edition) Citi Program ClinicalTrials.gov U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Development and Approval Process To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From Today's Episode “By ensuring access for diverse populations, we also promote trustworthiness within the diverse communities that we serve.” Timestamp (TS) 02:04 “We have a centralized education team for clinical trials, and all of the new investigators get a toolkit that they can use and get training on different informed consent processes and different resources that we have. We also have a really good relationship between research and our community outreach and engagement area. . . . And if either the research nurses or the investigators come up with any barriers to enrolling a specific population, there's an online form to request community outreach services for their patients or location.” TS 09:50 “A major step is the scientific review board going through each protocol and making sure that the catchment area is really represented and that protocols are inclusive. We also have disease-specific group meetings where the investigators and all the research staff discuss new protocols and the barriers to opening it in specific locations.” TS 12:59 “I think nurses have to step back and figure out what they know about the communities that they serve. They're used to being on the front lines and seeing patients every day. What kind of experiences have they had with the community, or what do they know about the community? And really what do the communities know about clinical trials, because a lot of it is going to be the nurse educating them.” TS 18:18 “I think it's important to ensure that you consider each person uniquely. Because no matter how much I know or the nurse knows about the population, everybody is a little bit different. It's important to personalize every approach and ask them what they know and meet them where they are.” TS 18:59

Research and testing are crucial parts of developing new cancer treatments. Clinical trials are how we achieve that research and testing. Cancer clinical trials test new drugs, radiation therapy techniques and surgical procedures. They help us determine what treatments are best for different cancers. That's why it's so important for a diverse group of people to participate in clinical trials.   Listen in to hear me discuss the basics of clinical trials.    What You'll Learn: It's crucial that cancer patients participate in clinical trials (1:40) Dr. Rosalyn defines what a clinical trial is. (2:08) There are four phases of cancer clinical trials. (3:00)  Screening, behavioral, prevention, diagnostic, treatment, and quality of life are the different types of clinical trials. (4:30)  Participating in a clinical trial is a very personal decision. (8:20)  "Clinical trials help us so much in terms of learning about different treatments for cancer." - Dr. Rosalyn Morrell "Clinical trials need a diversity of participants. Men, women, ethnicities, and ages. " - Dr. Rosalyn   Resources: Rosalyn Morrell, MD: Website Links: Website Facebook Instagram

What is a clinical trial? Why should people diagnosed with cancer consider a clinical trial? Are clinical trials safe? In this follow up episode, we answer those and all your burning questions about this topic with our first repeat guest on the podcast, Dr. Tara Lin, Medical Director of the KU Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. Links from this episode: Listen to the first part of our conversation with Dr. Lin on Episode 3 of the Bench to Bedside podcast - Cancer Clinical Trials: Why Diversity Matters: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cancer-clinical-trials-why-diversity-matters/id1583289928?i=1000605372184  Learn more about clinical trials at KU Cancer Center: https://www.kucancercenter.org/cancer-clinical-trials Dr. Tara Lin shares the five things you may not know about clinical trials on the KU Cancer Center blog: https://www.kucancercenter.org/news-room/blog/2021/09/five-things-you-may-not-know-about-clinical-trials   Learn more about the KU Cancer Center clinical trials finder app, available for download on Apple and Android: https://www.kucancercenter.org/news-room/news/2023/02/clinical-trial-finder-application-adds-patient-friendly-feature Dr. Roy Jensen on the importance of clinical trials for cancer (video): https://youtu.be/6QSIYBUPEtU If you appreciated this episode, please share, rate, subscribe and leave a review. For the latest updates, make you are following us on social media by searching for KU Cancer Center on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Do you have questions about cancer? Would you like to participate in this podcast? We want to hear from you! Send us an email with your questions at benchtobedside@kumc.edu or leave us a voice message at (913) 588-3880. Your question may be featured on a future episode.

Currently, only 4 percent of people who participate in a clinical trial are Black and 5 percent are Hispanic. On this episode of the Bench to Bedside podcast, Dr. Roy Jensen, vice chancellor and director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, speaks with Dr. Tara Lin, medical director of the cancer center's Clinical Trial Office, and Dr. Ronald Chen, Chair and professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and associate director for Health Equity at the cancer center, about why diversity in clinical trials is important to the health of our region, and what The University of Kansas Cancer Center is doing to give all communities access. Ullyses Wright, a member of the cancer center's patient research advocacy group (PIVOT) and cancer prevention clinical trial participant, also joins the conversation to share his perspective as a leader in the Kansas City African American community. If you appreciated this episode, please share, rate, subscribe and leave a review. For the latest updates, make you are following us on social media by searching for KU Cancer Center on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Do you have questions about cancer? Would you like to participate in this podcast? We want to hear from you! Send us an email with your questions at benchtobedside@kumc.edu or leave us a voice message at (913) 588-3880. Your question may be featured on a future episode. Links from this episode: Learn more about clinical trials at KU Cancer Center: https://www.kucancercenter.org/cancer-clinical-trials Learn more about the need for diversity in clinical trials: https://www.kucancercenter.org/yourvoice Learn more about the KU Cancer Center clinical trials finder app, available for download on Apple and Android: https://www.kucancercenter.org/news-room/news/2023/02/clinical-trial-finder-application-adds-patient-friendly-feature Clinical Trials - Why Diversity Matters video: https://youtu.be/vDnsFKd4alE KU Cancer Center uses art to raise awareness about access to clinical trials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQkN-JnS_8 Learn more about KU Cancer Center's patient research advocacy group, PIVOT: https://www.kucancercenter.org/research/give-back/patient-research-advocacy Dr. Tara Lin shares the five things you may not know about clinical trials on the KU Cancer Center blog: https://www.kucancercenter.org/news-room/blog/2021/09/five-things-you-may-not-know-about-clinical-trials   Dr. Ronald Chen shares efforts to eliminate cancer health disparities in Kansas and beyond: https://www.kucancercenter.org/research/transformative-research/beyond-the-bench/2020/leading-the-way

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., then discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., then discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network of California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network of California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network of California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network of California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

CIRM-funded Alpha Stem Cell Clinics are a network of California medical centers that specialize in delivering stem cell clinical trials to patients. Sandra Dillon shares how their work has impacted treatments for her rare cancer. Maria T. Millan, M.D., Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., Daniela A. Bota, M.D., Ph.D., Sheila Chari, Ph.D., Noah Federman, M.D., Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., Sean Turbeville, Ph.D., and Leo D. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., discuss current clinical trials and the future of stem cell research. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38400]

ASCO: You're listening to a podcast from Cancer.Net. This cancer information website is produced by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, known as ASCO, the voice of the world's oncology professionals. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guests' statements on this podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Cancer research discussed in this podcast is ongoing, so data described here may change as research progresses. At the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, registered nurse, breast cancer survivor, and patient advocate Stephanie Walker presented the results of the BECOME Research Project, which looked at Black patient participation in metastatic breast cancer clinical trials. In this podcast, Ms. Walker shares her story with Dr. Manali Patel, a medical oncologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, as well as the Cancer.Net Associate Editor for Health Equity. They discuss Ms. Walker's experience with metastatic breast cancer, how she became involved with patient advocacy and research, and the work being done within the oncology community to make cancer clinical trials more equitable and inclusive. View disclosures for Ms. Walker and Dr. Patel at Cancer.Net. Dr. Manali Patel: Hello, I'm Manali Patel. I'm a thoracic lung cancer doctor at Stanford University and the VA in Palo Alto. And I'm a researcher that's focused on trying to improve and overcome health disparities and really trying to achieve health equity. I'm also the Cancer.Net Associate Editor for Health Equity. And today it's my great pleasure to talk with Ms. Stephanie Walker. Stephanie is a registered nurse, a survivor of metastatic breast cancer, and a leading patient advocate. She's the lead author of the BECOME Research Project on increasing Black patient participation in metastatic breast cancer clinical trials, which she presented beautifully at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting. Stephanie, we can't thank you enough for talking with us today. I'm going to first start off by saying that I am from North Carolina. And Stephanie, I read so much about you over the past few years and noticed that you are living in Tarboro, North Carolina. Is that correct? Stephanie Walker: That is correct. I currently live there. We moved here originally in 2012, but this is my, I think, third or even fourth time living in North Carolina, moving back and forth between Thomasville and Durham and now permanently in Tarboro. Dr. Manali Patel: Well, I love that we share our Tar Heel roots. I am a Tar Heel born, Tar Heel bred. When I die, I'm a Tar Heel dead. So I can't thank you enough for sharing those roots and then also for sharing your story with us today. You were first diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2015. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with that diagnosis and what it was like to be diagnosed? Stephanie Walker: Well, actually the diagnosis in 2015 was my first diagnosis. I was not an early stager that had a recurrence, so I guess I could say breast cancer was never on my radar regarding family history. I thought maybe kidney disease or hypertension or those kind of things, but never breast cancer. So to say my life derailed at that time, it had. And I don't know if I ever grieved when I was told that I had metastatic breast cancer, I took it and just ran with it. I did not really fall off until many years later when I had to stop working. At the time I was diagnosed, I was working as an on-call nurse for a hospice company. So I was working 7 days on, 7 days off. So on my 7 days on is when I received a call and during my nap time. But yeah, it was very hard. But like I said, I didn't think bad of it. When I did finally look it up and see that the life expectancy was like 36 months, that kind of kicks your butt into gear to do things. But I didn't do anything. I just continued to work. [laughter] I didn't stop working. So yeah, it went through the basic standard of care treatment of Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Taxol. But I didn't get through my whole series of Taxol due to neuropathy and increased falls. So I stopped at 9 out of 12. Dr. Manali Patel: Still 9 out of 12, it's difficult. And that's a difficult therapy and difficult regimen. You talked about how it derailed your life. And I know I've had the pleasure of reading your story online. I think what's also really interesting is that you had a role as a hospice nurse and over 40 years as a hospice nurse. Stephanie Walker: No, most of my years of nursing was critical care. The last 14 years were hospice care, palliative life care. But, yeah, I just rolled with that. Even taking care of patients that had the same diagnosis kind of brought-- seeing death and dying every day. But then to see somebody with metastatic breast cancer dying was really hard. Dr. Manali Patel: Yeah. And I'm sure that your experience at nursing on the other side and the flip side, and then when you became a patient, is quite different and maybe challenging in and of its own. Stephanie Walker: A lot of people expected or said that. I think I got left out of a lot of things that could have helped my journey in the beginning, like a patient navigation and that kind of thing was kind of not given to me. And I guess it was because being a nurse. But I had no experience other than pediatric oncology. I knew what those children went through. And actually, it actually did help going through my treatment because I would remember this one little girl that was going through chemo, and she got up one morning and her pigtails started falling out, and then she wanted to get on the IV pole and go to the playroom. And I'm thinking to myself, if she can do it-- and I called her by name, if she can do it, what the hell am I complaining about? So it's like, just get up and go to the playroom. [laughter] So I kept going back to that, you know what I mean? These kids that are innocent and have not even started to live their life going through this, and they never complained. So being an old lady at 56, being diagnosed, hell, who was I to complain about it? So just pick your hair up and keep going. [laughter] Dr. Manali Patel: That's right. Get your IV pole and go to the playroom. Stephanie Walker: That's right. Dr. Manali Patel: It's interesting that you mentioned that being from the nursing field and from the medical field kind of excluded you from a lot of what we hope other people receive, which is good education about their diagnosis. And like you mentioned, a patient navigator. Do you think that being a Black woman in any way, shape, or form shaped your experience with cancer, and if so, how? Stephanie Walker: It didn't in the beginning. Like I said, from 2015 up until 2018 when I found myself suddenly without a job or insurance, I had no idea. I didn't know anybody else with metastatic breast cancer. I didn't know what was out there. I guess I didn't have a need that was not met. I had insurance that was paying the bills. I had a husband that helped care for me, 2 adult children that looked in on me, a job that I didn't consider a job, it was a calling, and I had no needs at that time that weren't met. So I didn't have the desire or the need to look outside my little tiny world, I guess, until I found myself in 2018. In 2017, we moved late in the year back to North Carolina from Louisiana and started a new job as a hospice nurse, same kind of a schedule and was out shopping with my husband one day, and I kept saying, "I'm really short of breath." And I said, "All this weight I've gained since treatment, it's horrible. I'm just fat and can't breathe." And he just kind of laughed at me and said, “No, you're fine, you're fine." Well, then I started experiencing chest pain and I said, "I think I need to go to the ER." And for me to say I need to go to the ER, then my husband kicked it into gear and thinking, "Oh gosh, maybe so." Went to the ER, thought I was having an MI [myocardial infarction, a heart attack], ruled that out, and sat back in the lobby for a couple of hours and then they came and got me again and, in a hurry, said that they'd seen that I had a blood clot in my left lung. So it's like, great, here I am now with the PE [pumonary embolism] and having to be on blood thinners. And then I had a TIA [transient ischemic attack, sometimes called a ministroke] on an oral blood thinner. So obviously that failed me. So that's when I had to stop work. And then that's when I went into a deep depression. And people say it's like just because you have to stop work, you get depressed and it's like, yeah, I mean, I had always told myself in the very beginning of my diagnosis, I'm going to work up until the very end. And then not to have that-- and I felt like if I don't do anything, I'm going to die quicker. So I did not know what I didn't know until I found myself trying to figure out how I was going to live, pay bills, eat, pay for treatment. You know, when you don't have that comfort, then I started looking for ways to help provide until I could figure out a plan. And that's when I found the world of metastatic breast cancer and advocacy that I went to my first metastatic breast cancer conference: Living Beyond Breast Cancer, actually in April of 2018. And I don't remember the weekend because I was just in awe that all these women around me had metastatic breast cancer and were thriving. And more than that is I've seen a whole lot of Black people that were like me. So I wanted to know more, learn more, do more. So that's when my whole-- I tell people that was my coming out party of metastatic breast cancer. So I did research trying to find funding and I spent 8 hours a day, 5 days a week looking for that since I didn't have a job, I didn't know what else to do. And luckily, I found enough resources to stop the bridge until I got my first disability check. Nobody told me there was a 5-month waiting period, right? And I found the insurance, thank you to my cancer center, provided ways for me to continue treatment because I made an appointment to tell them I'm going to stop treatment. I can't afford to pay you. But they came through, and I'm thankful for that. So that's when the world of advocacy opened up. It was in 2018, about 3 years after my diagnosis. Dr. Manali Patel: I love that you think and were part of the calling and your identity of being a nurse, and then of course as a hospice nurse, especially, but losing that identity, but then channeling and refocusing and helping other people and really advocating has given me a lot of inspiration as a daughter of a mother that also faced similar challenges. Stephanie Walker: I'm so sorry. Dr. Manali Patel: I really want to thank you for all that you've done on behalf of all women with breast cancer, and especially for Black and Brown community members who have breast cancer. We've read your story and know about you and so are really just thankful for you and the research that you've been doing, especially the research that you presented this past summer at our ASCO Annual Meeting 2022, where you presented the results of the BECOME Research Project. I was hoping that you could give us some background on the study and why you wanted to do research in this particular area? Stephanie Walker: First and foremost, I'm not a researcher. I don't like research, [laughter] and I didn't plan on doing research. So with that being out of the way, I am a nurse. I am a critical care nurse. I am a hospice nurse. I am an advocate. Researcher, not. So actually, it was done because there was another metastatic breast cancer huge advocate, Marina Kaplan, who is no longer with us. I met her at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in 2019, and she had done a poster presentation regarding patient-centered outcomes as well. And she noticed that the Black respondents to her survey was less than optimal. She only had like 8% return. And she said, "Stephanie, I don't understand, why so low?" And it was like, "Marina, I don't know. I did your survey, so I can't tell you." So she said, "There's got to be a reason." And she said, "Let's delve into trying to find out why." And she said, "How about this? You do the survey. You gear it to the Black population, men and women with metastatic breast cancer, and I'll help you." And I said, "You're definitely going to have to help me. I'm not a researcher. I don't do statistics either. I found that I didn't need that when calculating medication doses." Anyway, so with that being said, she said, "I'll do it. I'll do that part for you." And I thought, me being simplistic, how hard can it be to do a survey, right? You have questions, you put them on a piece of paper, you print them off, you make 100 million copies, and you send them out to people or you ask people in one of your Facebook groups or something, and you just write down the answers. That is not how it's done in the research world. So, unfortunately, before we could get it off the ground, she passed away. And actually, she was very sick at the conference. So she passed away actually the following January-- February. So I kind of put it on the shelf in the back of my mind because I just assumed that was just between me and her. Nobody else knew. She had told somebody else, and they came back to me. It was actually someone at Living Beyond Breast Cancer, Janine. She came back to me. She said, "Hey, do you remember when Marina talked to you about X, Y, Z?" And it's like, "Here it comes." And I said, "Yeah, sure." And I told her I would get it done. I told her I would do it. I told her I would do it. And people said, "She's gone. You don't have to do it." And it's like, "My word is my word." So she introduced me to a group at the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, the information task force, and they looked at it and thought it was a great idea and picked it up as one of their projects. And there I was starting my research problem with being the project lead of people that I didn't know, with an idea that I didn't know how it was going to be done. So I am thankful for a bunch of people, man, I am telling you. So it got done. It was partnered with a marketing and strategic group, CB White, and they actually got it off the ground to which way it needed to go. I didn't realize it cost a lot of money either. [laughter] It started off, we did literature search. We found some ASCO literature that would support our survey. Then we did interviews with the patients, the clinicians, researchers, payers, and they asked the questions -- we formulated questions because we had a subcommittee and someone else did the interviews. And after those were all done, that's how the survey was formed. And the survey went out-- it basically went out via social media. And the subcommittee, it was a bunch of patients and industry people and from the Alliance that pushed us out and was supportive of it and really believed in it. And my goal was to get 500 respondents. I wanted 250 Black and 250 of everybody else. I didn't care who, but I say I didn't reach my mark, and it was a little disappointing. I only had like 420-some people that responded. But everybody said that was really good because I didn't offer them anything. I didn't offer you money. I didn't offer you a gift card. I didn't offer you a cup of coffee. But it was done, and I'm proud of the responses. It was all done -- this whole project was done during the pandemic. And you have to realize that a lot of people in the subcommittee that I had that actually worked really hard, I had never met. So this is a group of people that you only know a face like on Zoom or something. So the results were some of them were -- I kind of expected that. But the biggest shocker for me was -- the number one thing that we're focusing on is a general ask, right? No one asked us, as Black men and women with metastatic breast cancer, talked to us about clinical trials. Dr. Manali Patel: I think that that finding, can you briefly tell us the numbers for the readers? I've read through and also saw the presentation kind of what you found in terms of that being the biggest and then some of the other outcomes that you looked at. Stephanie Walker: Well, some of the other outcomes were like, other than the 4 that we're focusing on, is to better inform, you know what I mean? We need Black patients to know about and to get the information to make informed decisions about clinical trials. That's first. Then the second one was to inspire trust. We all know about all the stuff in the past and the distrust of the Black community with health care providers. So we need to build that, and it has to start in a community in which the person lives. And we also found that more Black than non-Black, when questioned, would try a clinical trial only if they were asked to, but they weren't. So to ensure access -- there were barriers, obviously, to people wanting to participate in a clinical trial. And some of those were the travel time, the difficulty in finding the trials, worrying about the financial burden. And a lot were like, if I go to another facility, is my insurance going to cover it? So that's a big thing. And the final was to address the concerns, legitimate concerns. We need the health care provider to communicate in a clear language that we understand, and also understand the reasons that motivate us to participate in a clinical trial. So with those 4 things, we came up with some actions to do. But those were the 4 big ones that I found out that needed to be addressed. Because when doing this, I didn't do it just to be doing it. I wanted to do it to find out what the barriers were and then to come up with actionable steps. And as a physician or anybody, there's all those surveys people want you to do, and then they stop there. They don't go on. And I'm one of these people, like, don't waste my time. Let's do something that's actionable that we can act upon or help other people to act upon. Dr. Manali Patel: I think those of us in the health equity space, right, are not surprised that a lot of what you found does really play in terms of what the health care provider and what the health system can do. The health system can do things to engender trust rather than putting the blame on the patient, saying that patients don't enroll in clinical trials. Well, maybe we aren't asking patients equitably if they're enrolling. And we need to take a hard look at our own selves and our own practices and think about what we can do similar to a checklist, right? When a patient comes in, how can we make this part of standard of care to make sure that everybody gets asked, and we've got all these fancy decision support tools and our electronic health record that turn up poppers of, "Did you ask the patient about this?" But making this part of the rubric of what we do, I think was really nicely highlighted in your study and your findings. Stephanie Walker: Yeah. And I truly agree. Rubric metric, however you want to say it, people are like, "Well, how are you going to get them to change it?" Like, first of all, with education, and second of all, man, if I could figure out a way to attach a dollar sign to that rubric or that metric, it would be great.  Dr. Manali Patel: I think for our readers, you and I know and really want to get the messaging out for equitable and accessible clinical trials. Can you explain from your perspective why it's so important to be inclusive and to have clinical trials that are accessible and equitable for all patients with cancer? Stephanie Walker: Well, the statistics speak for themselves. Only like 6% of participants in a clinical trial for a metastatic breast cancer are, like 6%. But it's important that the clinical trials are inclusive for everybody, all people, because you want the medications to work for quote-unquote "all people.” And we find that, speaking from just my experience and what I know and have heard, that there are treatments out there that don't actually work on Black people. And one of the big general ones is one of the blood pressure meds we have found recently that does not work or do not work very well with people of color. So we have to include everybody in these clinical trials to be able to have effective treatments to work for everybody, no matter where they are, where they live, who their doctor is, what hospital they go to. All people need to be included. And we find that 80% of the patients are treated in community cancer centers, and those are the patients that are usually left out just due to the fact they're not associated with a teaching medical institution/NCI facility. Dr. Manali Patel: I think this is so important and really appreciate you highlighting that important fact is that making sure that our treatments are effective and feasibly can be provided to all patients in our quest for achieving health equity. What work is currently being done to make clinical trials more inclusive? Stephanie Walker: Everybody is working on that. Even Stephanie is working on that. With a new subcommittee, a little branch out from BECOME, we found that -- we had just spoken of education. And so we came up with an idea of an actionable step. How do we do that, and how do we educate the health care providers regarding all of these facts that we found? And we are going to have a symposium. We came up with a symposium, a 1-day event. And we are going to attach it to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. We're actually going to have it the day before the symposium starts and hopefully, that will attract health care providers who we're targeting this to come and just listen to see what the patient has to say. We have it broken into 3 sections. The first section is about the health care provider, how to communicate with your patients. What does it look like on the other side? And then the other is broken down into the pharmacy or pharma industry section. What are they doing to help include all people in clinical trials? And a lot of them have jumped on that bandwagon to be inclusive. But really, what are you working on? I want to know. So that's the second session. And the third session is about the patient and the caregiver. From the patient's point of view, how they did with clinical trials, and also a clinical navigator, what their role is to help patients find out about the trials and be that support person and as well the caregiver. A lot of people forget the caregiver goes through this as well. And to get the view of what the caregiver had, what they had, what they needed, what they didn't receive, to find out that so we can provide those things for them, hopefully. But yeah, that's what we're doing now. We're still in the planning phase. Dr. Manali Patel: That's amazing. I love the action-orientedness of really moving to the next step, taking the findings that you found, moving towards really action, and bringing all of the partners together. I know that all the industry partners and really holding people accountable for what they are planning on doing. I love that. What actually are you doing and coming up with a plan for moving forward? Stephanie Walker: Yeah, you have to start holding people accountable, get rid of the biases. And I've been blessed that I had not experienced any kind of biases in my care until the pandemic. And that was when I wanted to get my cancer treatment at a community center closer to home because it was a simple treatment of fulvestrant injection, and I wanted to get it closer to home. And we all agreed. We found a physician that would accept me closer to home. And it was going great until I started having complications, and he totally blew me off, actually. He told me that I needed psychiatric help, but he didn't know I was already getting it. But anyway, after contacting several patients that see this physician, they experienced the same thing. So that's the first time I had experienced anything based on my race and who I am. And that happens when a physician walks into a patient's room, sometimes that's what they see. They don't see Stephanie, they see a Black woman, and they start thinking in their head ticking off things like, "Oh, she's Black. She doesn't understand. She doesn't even know what a clinical trial is. She's going to be non-compliant. She's going to quit. And then she's going to become this angry Black woman that I'm going to have to deal with." So all of that before it is, "Hi, my name is." So, yeah. That experience made me want to do a little bit more to try to get rid of the biases that patients experience. Dr. Manali Patel: Yeah, I think what you're doing to advocating, not only us clinicians, I'm so sorry that you have to experience that. Unfortunately, we've heard and know that it's sometimes the norm of what people experience or the systemic biases that then play into the role with implicit biases and then, unfortunately, lead to delays in care and also mistreatment or even lack of evidence-based treatment for people just based off of their skin color or from what community they may be from, or even how much income they may have or education level. I think what you said about what the work that you're doing and educating us clinicians, number one, first and foremost, what we can do with the health care system and looking at our own practices and our own policies and trying to reduce and remove some of the biases that are baked into the system. But then also what you're doing on the ground with other patients and advocating for patients. I want to close with 1 last question, and you've highlighted some of it, but if you were to give advice to people with cancer who are faced with needing to advocate for themselves, be it for care like you described, or for clinical trials, what advice would you give them? Stephanie Walker: It's almost like having to put burden on the patient to learn. But you do. You have to become Ph.D.-certified with your own illness. You got to go out there and know what you got and know what you need, what the standard of care is, and that is the truth. When you get that diagnosis, I believe you should, first of all, take somebody with you with a notepad to be able to write down things. When you hear the word “cancer,” you don't hear nothing after that. And you're only going to probably absorb a fourth of what you're told at the office. So have somebody to write down what the doctor says, suggestions, and research your plan of care. Find out what the standard of care is. I tell people, don't go to Dr. Google, but you're going to have to Google some things. But try to find vetted sites, reputable sites to do that. And there's lots of organizations out there that you can get the information from. And I don't want to say use Facebook, but believe it or not, there are great groups on Facebook that offer support, information, suggestions, "Hey, I'm getting ready to start this treatment. What happened to you? Or what do you think?" So always arm yourself with questions when you go in. Ask the questions. Don't be afraid to ask. If that doesn't work, of course, with the pandemic, I would have people that want to go with me, and I couldn't go, but I could sit out in the lobby on my cell phone and listen in and encourage them to ask this question or ask the doctor a question. Of course, that has to be given with permission from the physician as well. But arm yourself with as much information as you can. And if you are finding that you're not getting that feeling of, “This doctor has my best interest,” seek a second opinion, third opinion, a fourth opinion. Don't let a doctor railroad you into doing something that you don't understand. If you don't understand, speak up. I tell people all the time, they may know about cancer, but you know about yourself, so hold firm to that. I've told several doctors. I've fired several. So, I mean, they're out there. And I tell people all the time, don't be scared. Be comfortable and always know there's somebody out there. You're not alone to talk to. And being depressed or down sometimes, it's normal. You go there, but don't live there. If you find yourself living there, reach out for help. Because I'm one that thought that nurses don't reach out for help, but I finally did. So don't be afraid to ask for help and know that there's somebody out there with you. Call me. I'm available. Dr. Manali Patel: Ms. Walker, I can't thank you enough for sharing your story with us and telling us more about your experiences and the work that you've been doing-- the important work you've been doing in this area. It was really wonderful to have you, and I hope that we get to meet in person at some point. Stephanie Walker: I really thank you for the opportunity to share and hopefully the information that we both have provided, people will get it and understand it, and it will help somebody, because the work you done while you were at ASCO was amazing, too. So read that. [laughter] So I really do, and I really appreciate the opportunity. Dr. Manali Patel: We are very grateful. And thank you for Cancer.Net, for hopefully being that source of trust and source of information for all of our patients. ASCO: Thank you, Ms. Walker and Dr. Patel. You can find more stories from people with cancer at the Cancer.Net Blog, at www.cancer.net/blog. Cancer.Net Podcasts feature trusted, timely, and compassionate information for people with cancer, survivors, and their families and loved ones. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts for expert information and tips on coping with cancer, recaps of the latest research advances, and thoughtful discussions on cancer care. And check out other ASCO Podcasts to hear the latest interviews and insights from thought leaders, innovators, experts, and pioneers in oncology. Cancer.Net is supported by Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, which funds lifesaving research for every type of cancer, helping people with cancer everywhere. To help fund Cancer.Net and programs like it, donate at CONQUER.ORG/Donate.

As Director of Head and Neck Cancer Research at Cleveland Clinic, Natalie Silver, MD, MS, FACS shares some of the exciting and innovative trials she's leading to bring about a cure to head and neck cancer. Dr. Silver's work has received a grant from VeloSano - our premier cancer research fundraising initiative - listen and learn more about how you can get involved.

Our guest today is Dr. Mark Schroeder of the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis.  Dr. Schroeder walks us through the different phases of the clinical trial process, how it can benefit patients, and how volunteers can help advance cancer treatment.We talk about interventional vs. non interventional studies, and how Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 of clinical trials function step by step.  Depending on your diagnosis and prognosis, this explanation can help you decide which phase would be right for you or your loved one.Dr. Schroeder also breaks down some of the common misconceptions around clinical trials.  This includes hesitation around placebo, the idea of being a "guinea pig," and the cost of treatment - which is often covered by the entities running the trial.  Also, some folks believe that trial drugs are not as good as what's already been approved. This isn't true; by participating in a trial, you might gain early access to a therapy that provides better outcomes.We dig into how and why different studies are offered in different centers, and how to best navigate your way to finding a clinical trial appropriate for your situation. The best place to start is with your treating oncologist. Dr. Schroeder's area of focus is multiple myeloma. He speaks specifically to how clinical trials have advanced treatment for this particular type of cancer, specifically through CAR-T cell therapy and bispecific antibodies.We close with a story of one of Dr. Schroeder's patients, and the difference a clinical trial made for her.More:US Clinical Trials Website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LINK-BMT, or (800) 546-5268.nbmtLINK Website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/nbmtLINK Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/nbmtLINKnbmtLINK YouTube Page can be found by clicking here.Thank you to this season's sponsors:Omeros Corporation: https://www.omeros.com/Incyte: https://www.incyte.com/

Stephanie Rivera, CEO, Lazarex Cancer Foundation, joins Yo to discuss how the Foundation's efforts to address the gap and barriers in accessing cancer trials for minority populations. This Foundation leads the way to improve cancer health outcomes, FDA cancer clinical trial diversity and enrollment, and patient access to care by providing assistance with clinical trial navigation, reimbursing trial related travel costs, and partnering with at-risk communities to mobilize resources. They are also advocates for changes in policy and laws to support access. The vision of Lazarex Cancer Foundation is that everyone affected by cancer will have hope, dignity, support and the most advanced treatments made available to them at all stages of their journey. Here are the questions we explored: · What is the mission of the Foundation? · How does your organization address the gaps in getting more people of color involved in clinical trials? · What are some of the programs (Care, Impact, Wellness) your organization offers? · What is Disruption the System V all about? · What are your advocacy efforts? · How can listeners help support your organization's efforts? As mentioned in the episode here is the Lazarex Cancer Foundation website for additional information about Disrupting the System V, the September 24 Virtual Gala (free to join), and testimonials from patients helped by the organization. Here's a quote from Cassandra, a VIP (very important patient): “Once I connect with Lazarex, I could breathe. They made me feel I mattered. Every person I spoke with at Lazarex was kind-hearted, and it impacted my mental psyche.” More about Stephanie: Stephanie Rivera joined the Lazarex Cancer Foundation as the CEO to continue her commitment to increasing access to health care and clinical trials. In this role, Stephanie brings her long-standing dedication to address health care disparities in underserved communities. In her previous leadership roles with John Muir Health, Public Health Institute, Planned Parenthood, La Clínica de la Raza, San Francisco General Hospital, and University of California, San Francisco, she developed the knowledge to identify health care needs and disparities of the community with the goal of creating positive outcomes. Stephanie's advocacy for the community continues with her volunteer services as a board member for Center for Human Development, the Family Justice Center for Contra Costa County, and the Contra Costa County's Workforce Development Board where she is currently co-chair of the subcommittee on Business and Economic Development. Stephanie is most proud of her four adult children. She enjoys spending downtime with her partner, family, friends, and her new dog, Lola. Stephanie holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) from the University of California, Davis. Ways to contact Stephanie: eMail srivera@lazarex.org LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-r-rivera/ Connect with Lazarex: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lazarexcf/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LazarexCF LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lazarex-cancer-foundation Ways to reach Yo: eMail yo@yocanny.com FB Group: Girl, Take the Lead! IG: https://www.instagram.com/yocanny LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in

How effective is the newly authorized Novavax COVID-19 vaccine? Find out this and more in today's PV Roundup podcast.

Learn more about the clinical trial process, tips for finding all possible trials, and considerations when choosing a trial. Brenna Carswell, a childhood cancer survivor and mother of two, holds a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology. Although oncology has been a key part of her life for over 30 years, she has worked directly with patients, families, researchers, and clinicians for the last 8 years. Along with pediatric cancer research and trials, Brenna is passionate about humanitarian causes and child welfare. She makes time for fun and escapes to the beach with her daughters as often as possible. What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: ✨ End-of-Life MISSIONS ✨ Gamer Agents ✨ Agent Writers ✨ Prayer Agents ✨ Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent Support ✨ Ambassador Agents - Peer Support ✨ Warrior Mail ✨ Young Adult Survivorship Support Group ✨ EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: ✨ OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma ✨ MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours ✨ RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference ✨ Funding $100,000 annually for OS research ✨ MIB Testing & Research Directory ✨ The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter.

Claire McKenna, Presenter, Alive and Kicking, joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder for her weekly look into the world of wellness. This week she discussed cancer clinical trials.

There isn't a family in Ireland that has not been touched by cancer. In fact, approximately 25,000 people are diagnosed with invasive cancer here each year. In the past 20 years, almost 31,000 (30,770) people have taken part in nearly 800 (786) cancer clinical trials. Clare is joined by Professor Seamus O'Reilly, (consultant medical oncologist and Vice Clinical Lead Cancer Trials Ireland) to hear how trials work and how to access them and Sarah McGrath gives her experience of breast cancer and taking part in a clinical trial herself. And why are there some emotions we fear or label as bad? This week we're looking at anger and rage with counselling psychotherapist Christine O'Riodan

The Oncology Journal Club - Delivering Oncology News DifferentlyThe Oncology Podcast, brought to you by The Oncology Network, is proud to present Episode 65 in our series The Oncology Journal Club.We've a surprise guest for this special episode… Join Craig Underhill, Hans Prenen and their favourite Kiwi sidekick yes, it's Chris Jackson from New Zealand.Whilst Eva relaxes on a European beach somewhere the boys have taken over with a dedicated Manels episode!Papers cover unconscious bias in speaker introductions at conferences, BRCA testing in men, Respectful Discourse, Sex Differences in Risk of Severe Adverse Events and much more. You'll also hear about ‘Gongs galore' and being ‘'Too male, too pale, too stale' in this week's quick bites. You'll find links to all the papers, bios and Twitter handles in the notes on our websites. For regular news and podcast updates, we invite healthcare professionals to join us at oncologynetwork.com.au. Its free and it's a fantastic way to support the OJC.The Oncology Podcast - An Australian Oncology Perspective

Limerick-based consultant hematologist, Professor Ruth Clifford, joins Joe Nash to tell us about an upcoming webinar that focuses on cancer clinical trials. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We start to tackle Kelly's favorite topic: Nutrition! Join us as we discuss her main nutrition principles, including the "dirty dozen", grass-fed beef, plant-based diets, and more. References:Kelly's blog: hopeandnourishment.comBroccoli SproutsDavid Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, (2009), Anticancer: A New Way of Life,  Penguin House Russell L. Blaylock, (2019), Natural Strategies for Cancer Patients, Kensington PublishingMarshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. (2019, June 10). Tart cherry shown to decrease joint pain, sore muscles in some breast cancer patients. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 10, 2022Ben A. Williams Ph.D. , (2002), Surviving "Terminal" Cancer: Clinical Trials, Drug Cocktails, and Other Treatments Your Oncologist Won't Tell You About,  CreateSpace Independent Publishing PlatformFollow the Unchosen Fork:FacebookInstagramDisclaimer: The contents of this podcast, including text, graphics, images, and other materials created and/or disseminated by The Unchosen Fork are for informational purposes only. The Contents are NOT intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, before beginning a nutritional plan and/or taking nutritional supplements. Reliance on any information provided by this podcast, others content appearing on this podcast, or other visitors to the Site is solely at your own risk. None of the contents of this podcast are intended to be relied upon for medical treatment or diagnosis. The Unchosen Fork, their affiliates, nor any of the host family members assumes any liability or responsibility for damage or injury to person or property arising from any use of any product, service, information, or instruction contained on this Podcast.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theunchosenfork)

Host:  Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky  Guest: Dr. Zhonglin Hao,  Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, Markey Cancer Center Cancer clinical trials are research studies to test the efficacy of treatments for various types of cancer.  On this episode of Cancer Conversations on Talking FACS, Dr. Hao shares the importance of clinical trials to the treatment of cancer and how we all benefit from those willing to participate in these research experiences. For more information about clinical trials, visit: www.NCCN.org www.Clinicaltrials.gov Clinical Trails at Markey Cancer Center Connect with the UK Markey Center Online Markey Cancer Center On Facebook @UKMarkey On Twitter @UKMarkey    

Currently our black and brown communities are really grossly underrepresented in cancer clinical trials, and we need to fix that. Historical barriers around egregious medical behaviors that have taken place in the past, cultural barriers, language barriers, and finally socioeconomic barriers impact the outcome of someone's cancer journey,” says Dana Dornsife, founder and CEO at Lazarex Cancer Foundation, a nationwide non-profit org she founded in 2006.

Clinical trials represent the fundamental agents of progress in cancer care.  They allow us to move the needle in advancing new therapies and evaluating novel treatment approaches for our patients.  Tens of thousands of cancer patients enroll in clinical trials each year across the United States. In this special episode of the All In Against Cancer podcast, join host Dr. Jon Mizrahi in a discussion with with Ochsner medical oncologist, Dr. Marc Matrana, and oncology nurse practitioner, Erin Pierce, to learn more about the role and types of clinical trials in oncology and discuss the unique clinical trial opportunities at Ochsner.  We will also clear up some common misconceptions about trials and touch upon what we envision for the future of clinical research.

In this Hope With Answers podcast, hear from doctors in the field and researchers on the front lines discuss the disparities in lung cancer clinical trials. Disparities in access to healthcare opportunities occur when there is an absence of health equity. These health differences are closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. Listen to these lung cancer experts address disparity in all aspects. This includes eligibility, referral programs, healthcare access, and appropriate follow-up for lung cancer screening. They propose strategies to address each of these areas so that we can bridge this disparity, equity and inclusion gap. Missing Out on Treatments: Disparities in Lung Cancer Clinical Trials Advances in lung cancer treatments over the last few years have made it possible to live with lung cancer for years after diagnosis. But minority and ethnic populations represent less than 5% of those getting the latest treatments in clinical trials. Guests Dr. Raymond Osarogiagbon of Baptist Cancer Center in Memphis, Tennessee Vincent K. Lam, M.D., an Assistant Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins, is a clinical/translational investigator with a special interest in lung cancer and an LCFA Young Investigator grantee. Dr. Triparna Sen, is an Assistant Attending, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Assistant Professor, Weil Cornell School of Medicine and an LCFA Young Investigator grantee Show Notes | Transcription Patients have the power to make a difference in health disparities in lung cancer clinical trials by: educating themselves on the steps to take asking their doctors questions looking for information on websites like lcfamerica.org or social media oncogene groups.

Today, we are excited to feature Dana Dornsife, founder, and CEO of Lazarex Cancer Foundation. This nationwide foundation assists advanced-stage cancer patients and the medically underserved by helping with funds needed to participate in FDA clinical trials. In this episode, Dana shares how a family experience with cancer led her to the creation of Lazarex. She discusses how her foundation addresses barriers like social determinants of health, minority participation, and equitable access. She also talks about overcoming challenges, creating solutions from the bottom up, receiving strength in numbers, and more. Dana's insights, motivation, and passion are truly inspirational. If you are interested in the issue of disparities in healthcare and improving patient access to clinical trials, this episode is one you shouldn't miss. Click this link to the show notes, transcript, and resources: outcomesrocket.health

In this episode of Speaking of SurgOnc®, Rick Greene, MD, and Judy Boughey, MD, discuss the impact of COVID-19 on US clinical research at the local, cooperative group, and national level. Dr. Boughey is the author of the article, “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Clinical Trials.” Dr. Judy Boughey is Professor of Surgery in Division of Breast and Melanoma Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Dr. Lola Fayanju is the Helen O. Dickens Presidential Associate Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also chief of breast surgery at Penn Medicine, as well as surgical director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center. Her research focuses on health disparities, aggressive breast cancer variants, and improving value in oncology. Studies show that overall participation in cancer clinical trials is low, and participation by people of color is even lower. This is thought to be part of the reason that minority women — especially Black women — have worse breast cancer outcomes than white women. One strategy to help reduce disparities in breast cancer outcomes is to make clinical trials more diverse. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Fayanju explain: why diversity in clinical trials is important some of the barriers that keep people of color from enrolling in clinical trials and how they can be overcome how she talks to all her patients about clinical trials Running time: 31:11

Is smoking cessation beneficial after lung cancer diagnosis? Find out about this and more in today's PV Roundup podcast.

25 years have passed since HIV therapies were approved for people living with the virus, but people who are HIV positive are often excluded from cancer clinical trials. Why is that? Writer Tim Murphy explored that question, and argues that not only is the practice discriminatory, but it's putting lives at risk. We talk with him about what he learned. Our guests: Tim Murphy , contributing editor for the Body Pro Ariela Noy, M.D. , attending physician and member in the Department of Medicine/Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

As COVID-19 infection rates again spike around the nation, this week, we're looking at two recent studies focused on COVID-19 and cancer. The first describes the rate of infection with the virus among asymptomatic patients with cancer undergoing active treatment for their solid tumors. The second explores how the ongoing pandemic is affecting the way patients with cancer choose to participate in clinical trials.Coverage of stories discussed this week on ascopost.com:Serial COVID-19 Screening in Asymptomatic Patients Receiving Treatment for CancerSurvey Finds Patients With Cancer May Be Less Likely to Enroll in Clinical Trials During the COVID-19 PandemicTo listen to more podcasts from ASCO, visit asco.org/podcasts.

All medications that are now standard treatment options went through a series of clinical trials before becoming available to patients. In this edition of our special series “Spotlight on Metastatic Breast Cancer,” we have an in-depth talk about clinical trials, their role in advancing the development of new treatments, and patient concerns about participating in them. Our guest is clinician and researcher Dr. Vered Stearns.

Clinical trials are an extremely important in finding new ways to treat cancer and help patients live well with their diagnosis. On this episode of Frankly Speaking Cancer, host Kim Thiboldeaux is joined by four guests with four different clinical trial experiences who will each share their stories of how participating in a clinical trial gave them each hope.

The podcast's next two episodes will feature discussions around two recent and on-going clinical trials focused on patients with colon and rectal cancer. In episode #6, Dr. Deborah Schrag joins the podcast. She provides an inside look at the "Prospect" trial currently taking place. Visit howwetreat.org for more information.

Clinical trials are an extremely important in finding new ways to treat cancer and help patients live well with their diagnosis. On this episode of Frankly Speaking Cancer, host Kim Thiboldeaux is joined by four guests with four different clinical trial experiences who will each share their stories of how participating in a clinical trial gave them each hope.