A team of leaders in patient advocacy and education at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, Friends of Cancer Research (Friends), and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) have been approved for a funding award through the Eugene Washington Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Engagement Awards (Engagement Awards) program. The funds will support Project TEACH: Trained Empowered Advocates for Community Health/Healing. TEACH empowers black women through education and outreach to participate in and effectively engage with researchers and clinicians to increase participation of black women in cancer-focused clinical trials.
Black women are vastly underrepresented in clinical research and trials. An analysis of data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration indicates that in trials for 24 of the 31 cancer drugs approved since 2015, fewer than 5% of study patients were black.1
Linda Blount, MPH
Linda Blount, MPH, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, will lead the engagement project among the three organizations, bringing together experts in patient advocacy, education and training, and community engagement to achieve Project TEACH’s goals.
Part of Portfolio of Projects
In response to this need, the Black Women’s Health Imperative, Friends, and SU2C will conduct a phased program to engage, train, and educate black women with cancer, advocates, and family members to understand clinical research and partner effectively with researchers and clinicians throughout the drug development process. By educating and training this group in the principles of clinical research, Project TEACH will empower black women with the tools necessary to impact their own and future treatment options.
Project TEACH is part of a portfolio of projects that PCORI has funded to help develop a community of patients and other stakeholders equipped to participate as partners in comparative clinical effectiveness research and disseminate PCORI-funded study results.
REFERENCE
1. Dent J: Patients of African descent are being denied the benefits of cancer breakthroughs. We’re changing that. November 21, 2018. Available at www.statnews.com/2018/11/21/cancer-clinical-trials-patients-african-descent. Accessed January 29, 2020.
