A Patient and Her Care Team on Trust + Clinical Trials

Cancer Buzz Podcast

Clinical research is critical to the development of life saving treatments. And ACCC has long supported equitable access to clinical trials, including efforts to ensure that these trials reflect the diversity of the populations they serve. ACCC has made the Just ASK™ Training Program and Site Self-Assessment available free-of-charge to help research sites address barriers to participation in cancer clinical trials among racial and ethnic populations. In this episode, CANCER BUZZ facilities a candid conversation with Glenis Redmond, who received treatment at Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute for multiple myeloma, and 2 members of her cancer treatment team: clinical research coordinator Audrianna Carrington and oncologist hematologist Dr. Tondre Buck, about overcoming barriers, ensuring shared decision-making, and improving the inclusion of historically underrepresented groups in clinical trials.

“If you look at cancers in general, treatments have gotten better over the years in almost every category, and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for clinical trials.” – Tondre Buck, MD

“We’re playing the long game here. Some of the information or this research may not be about me. This is about our future generation…so this is a legacy game for me…This is what I’m doing with my [one] wild and precious life. I want to be here as long as I possibly can, but I also want my offspring: my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren to be here as well and [to] have a better experience as far as health care and cancer.” – Glenis Redmond

“We do have to talk about past unethical experimentation and research in order for us to better prepare how we’re going to go forward…[transportation] is one barrier that we are tackling. You know, we don’t want to put that stress on the patients who have to choose between gas, their physician visit, their food, or their medicine for the day. So that is a huge barrier, and you really want that population to be represented on the trial, because rural populations tend to have higher cancer rates.” – Audrianna Carrington