From lifesaving drugs to new treatments, clinical trials are essential to advancing medicine, and their success depends on people participating. Yet participation remains low. Only about 7% of U.S. adults with cancer enroll in treatment-related clinical trials.
Dr. Leanne Dumeny, a resident physician in the FIU/Baptist Health Family Medicine Residency worked with FIU and Baptist Health researchers to study how clinical trial education within South Florida communities could contribute to improving participation in clinical trials.
The team held two sessions in English in Palm Beach and Broward counties and a session in Spanish in Miami-Dade County. Funded by the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the sessions covered what clinical trials are, why they matter and how people can get involved. The presentations also featured testimonial speakers who shared their experiences, making the information more relatable for attendees.
The study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, included 115 adults who completed anonymous surveys before and after the sessions.
When interest doesn't lead to access
About one-quarter of participants said they were interested in joining a clinical trial but had never been offered the opportunity. The finding points to a gap that education alone may not solve: People also need clear ways to find and connect with available studies.
"Healthcare systems and research programs also need pathways that connect interested individuals with available studies," said Dumeny.
Principal investigator Dr. Ana Sandoval-Leon, clinical assistant professor at the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, faculty member in the FIU/Baptist Health Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship programs and medical breast oncologist at Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute, sees the finding as a call to action for providers.
"We need to make it a standard practice to ask every patient about their interest in a clinical trial, not just the ones we assume might say yes," she said, emphasizing the importance of providers knowing which studies are available and being equipped to have those conversations with patients.
