Dr Stadler on Enhancing Diversity in Early Phase Clinical Trials For Underserved Communities

Walter M. Stadler, MD, Fred C. Buffett Professor of Medicine, deputy director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, the dean for Clinical Research, the University of Chicago (UChicago) Medicine, discusses his role within the Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) 4-team initiative, where he will aim to enhance diversity in early-phase clinical trials in underserved urban community.

The 4-team initiative includes:

• Martin Edelman, MD, and Linda Fleisher, PhD, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Anthony B. El-Khoueiry, MD, and Chanita Hughes-Halbert, PhD, of the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
• David Gerber, MD, and Chika Nwachukwu, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center
• Stadler and Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy, PhD, of UChicago Medicine

Each team will focus on initiatives at their respective institutions, which include accelerating and diversifying access to clinical trials at Fox Chase Cancer Center, eliminating enrollment barriers to early-phase trials in diverse populations at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and transferring care to enhance access to early-phase cancer clinical trials at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

In addition to existing physician-oriented barriers to early-phase clinical trials for underrepresented populations, there has also been an ongoing discussion surrounding the patient/community barriers for enrolling in these studies, Stadler begins. These barriers can include health literacy, knowledge of what clinical trials may entail, and distrust in the community of the physicians and medical centers providing the clinical trials and treatment, Stadler emphasizes.

Based on these limitations and barriers to early-phase cancer clinical trials, the SU2C 4-team initiative will aim to address these obstacles by partnering with physicians. These partnerships will help determine if addressing physician-related barriers will be sufficient enough to enhance accrual to these trials, or if it is necessary to further address community- and patient-oriented issues, Stadler concludes.