This discussion focuses on barriers to increasing availability of clinical trials across safety net/public hospitals as well as university programs and cancer centers. Increasing financial support to safety net/public hospitals for the conduct of clinical trials will also be addressed. The need to ensure that cancer centers/university cancer programs reach out to underinsured and insured patients for clinical trial participation will be included, with an emphasis on avoiding inappropriate/disproportionate diversion of insured patients away from public/safety new hospitals.

Moderating this session is Lisa Newman, MD, Chair, SSO DEI Advisory Council, and Chief, Breast Surgery Section, Weill Cornell Medicine.

Panelists:

Linda Goler Blount, MD, President, Black Women's Health Imperative

Kalpana Ramiah, DrPH, MPH, MSc, CPH, Vice President of Innovation, America’s Essential Hospitals, Director, Essential Hospitals Institute

Karen Jackson, CEO and Founder, Sisters Network, Inc

John H. Stewart, IV, MD, MBA, Director, Louisiana State University Cancer Center

Ronda Henry-Tillman, MD, Professor and Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Division Chief, Breast Surgical Oncology, Director of Health Intiative and Disparities Research, Department of Surgery, Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences