Georgia CORE and partners launch clinical trial navigation pilot

10/05/2023, Georgia CORE

Georgia CORE has received sponsorship dollars from Amgen, the multinational biopharmaceutical company, and GASCO to discover ways to increase participation of cancer clinical trials for under-resourced, rural, and minority populations in Georgia. Part of a three–year pilot, the program is intended to raise awareness and educate providers and the public about cancer clinical trials, navigate patients to trials, and ensure that Georgia CORE’s statewide trial database found on GeorgiaCancerInfo.org is current and inclusive of all cancer clinical trials open by Georgia institutions.

“This partnership will be critical to increasing access to cancer clinical trial participation throughout Georgia’s rural, urban, and suburban communities," said Georgia CORE President and CEO Lynn Durham. “Increasing the number of and access to clinical trials is one of the main reasons Georgia CORE was formed; clinical trials improve care and outcomes for patients and increase research to benefit the entire cancer community.”

The partners’ support of the pilot program allows for Georgia CORE to employ its first Clinical Trials Navigator. Brought on this summer, Marquita Iddirisu, MPH, is a public health professional with experience navigating minority patients through the cancer continuum from screening to survivorship. 

In planning the pilot program, Marquita is compiling a comprehensive Georgia Commission on Cancer (CoC) contact list – the first step in strengthening a network of principal investigators, researchers, and other clinical research staff. Georgia CORE will engage with and establish partnerships among crucial research personnel at each of the 45 CoC sites, supporting the nonprofit’s mission of encouraging collaboration and increasing cutting-edge cancer research in the state. 

 

Updated 3/22/2024