Improving Representation of Diversity in Clinical Trials Through Academia and Community Collaboration
02/09/2022
While the FDA, industry sponsors, academia, and others have taken important steps to address the challenges of clinical trial diversity, progress has been limited. Overcoming barriers to recruiting, enrolling, and retaining underrepresented groups in clinical research requires deliberate, concerted, and sustained actions. Patient and community engagement, partnerships, and collaborations can play crucial roles in overcoming barriers to clinical trials.
The goal of this session is to create a safe space for courageous conversations where Academic researchers can share their experience building meaningful community collaborations to deepen relationships, build trust, gain an understanding of community priorities, and make research programs more responsive to the needs, values, and perspectives of the affected populations.
Moderator
Dr. Edith Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCPP, FRCP
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Dr. Edith Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCPP, FRCP
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University
A retired United States Air Force Brigadier General and Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology, Dr. Edith Mitchell is Clinical Professor for the Department of Medicine and Medical Oncology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, and additionally holds roles at the college as Associate Director for Diversity Programs, and Director of the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities.
Dr. Mitchell has spent her medical career helping individuals in medically underserved areas to realize that simple changes in lifestyle can have a dramatic impact on cancer care. Dr. Mitchell’s work has demonstrated the importance of community service and outreach in such underserved populations. Her research in breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancers and other GI malignancies involves new drug evaluation and chemotherapy, development of new therapeutic regimens, chemoradiation strategies for combined modality therapy, patient selection criteria and supportive care for patients with gastrointestinal cancer.
Dr. Mitchell served as the 116th President of the National Medical Association, has served as a member of the NCI’s Blue Ribbon Panel convened to advise the National Cancer Advisory Board on then Vice President Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. In 2019, she began service as a member of the President’s Cancer Panel, and in 2020 Dr. Michell became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Speakers
Carolyn Fang, PhD
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Carolyn Fang, PhD
Professor, Cancer Prevention & Control, AD, Population Science, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Dr. Carolyn Fang is Associate Director of Population Science at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. Over the past 20 years, her research has focused on how psychosocial, behavioral, and healthcare access factors influence cancer outcomes, particularly in diverse and medically underserved populations. As a behavioral scientist, Dr. Fang has successfully implemented a number of community-based interventions targeting cancer screening and risk reduction behaviors among Asian immigrants.
Dr. Fang received her undergraduate degree from Colgate University and then obtained her PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Prevention and Control at Fox Chase Cancer Center, prior to joining the faculty. She is an elected Fellow in the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (ABMR) and the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), and she was recently appointed to the NCI Cancer Prevention Steering Committee.
Dr. Matthew Kulke
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Dr. Matthew Kulke
MD, Co-Director of the Boston University, Boston Medical Center Cancer Center
Dr. Matthew Kulke is the Zoltan Kohn Professor at Boston University School of Medicine and serves as chief of the section of hematology and medical oncology and co-director of the Boston University/Boston Medical Cancer Center. In this capacity, he has been focused on making cancer clinical trials more available to medically underserved populations. He is internationally recognized for his work in neuroendocrine tumors where he has published over 200 articles and has played a key role in both early and late stage trials of novel therapeutics. He has previously served as chair of the National Cancer Institute’s Neuroendocrine Tumor Task Force, chair of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society, and as chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Neuroendocrine Tumor Guidelines committee.
Dr. Ruben Mesa, MD
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Dr. Ruben Mesa, MD
Executive Director of the Mays Cancer Center, UT Health San Antonio
Dr. Ruben Mesa is the Executive Director of the Mays Cancer Center, at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center. The Mays Cancer Center is a leader in advancing the science of cancer in Latinx patients, training the diverse cancer investigators of the future, and enrolling a majority of Latinx cancer patients onto cancer clinical trials. As a Latino Cancer Center Director and having been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator of more than 100 clinical trials, Dr. Mesa is deeply committed to advancing cancer health equity. Dr. Mesa is involved with numerous national initiatives regarding expanding diversity in both cancer training and clinical trial participation with AACR, Genentech, BMS, and Jansen.
Dr. Mesa received his medical degree from the Mayo Graduate School at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and medical oncology. Dr. Mesa’s own practice builds on his role as an international expert on myeloproliferative neoplasms. Dr. Mesa was the Chair of Hematology and Medical Oncology for the Mayo Clinic in Arizona from 2009-2017. Additionally, Dr. Mesa was Deputy Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and helped oversee all efforts related to cancer practice, education and research in Arizona and development of the cancer service line across Mayo Clinic.