Initiative Aims to Increase Minority Participation in Clinical Trials

When Darlene Jefferson was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive breast cancer, she began an aggressive treatment plan of chemotherapy, followed by surgery and more chemotherapy.

Then the 54-year-old Southfield resident received a unique opportunity. Eleanor M. Walker, M.D., director of Breast Radiation Oncology, offered a new treatment available in a clinical trial.

“I asked plenty of questions and was satisfied with the answers,” Darlene says. “I was willing to try whatever was going to help me, and my family encouraged me to do it.”

Now Henry Ford is launching a community-based initiative – the Participatory Action for Access to Clinical Trials (PAACT) project – to dramatically improve the representation of Black people like Darlene in cancer clinical trials.

“By working with the community to help us understand attitudes about research, more minorities may be willing to enter clinical trials,” says Dr. Walker, PAACT co-investigator.

“The advent of promising novel therapies, including immunotherapy and recently discovered genetic therapies, creates an urgency to improve clinical trial enrollment of Black people with higher risk and poorer prognosis of cancer,” she says.

Researchers will collaborate with the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center to study the barriers to participation in clinical trials involving breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers. Genentech is supporting PAACT with a $750,000 grant.

“Black people have told us they want to be present in the design of the clinical trial so they know what’s involved and who will be accountable,” says Evelyn Jiagge, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of PAACT.

“We can’t change the past, but we have to ask, ‘How do we work together to change the future?'"

Based on the findings, PAACT will develop and test pilot interventions in the community and the health system aimed at eliminating barriers to inclusion.

“Clinical trial medicine is the way to go,” Darlene says. “Keep an open mind, think positive and keep the faith. Then get the treatment that works best for you.”