Funded by Hooters of America, LLC
Precision cancer medicine refers to the tailoring and targeting of cancer treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient. Triple negative breast cancers (TNBC), specific types of breast cancer, are known to be very aggressive and tend to occur more frequently in Hispanic than non-Hispanic white patients. A team of researchers at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center was formed to investigate the development of treatments that will target TNBC. This research will include the setup of clinical trials–research studies that test how well certain treatments work in patients with cancer. It is well known that there are obstacles that prohibit racial/ethnic minorities from participating in clinical trials. These include a variety of factors related to the patient, his/her provider, and the health system where he/she receives medical care. The goal of this application is to leverage work in a precision medicine project to engage with community partners on the topic of clinical trial accrual. This will be accomplished by addressing the following specific aims, focusing on Hispanic communities in San Diego and Imperial counties: 1) Assess the unique community perspective and experience of Hispanic breast cancer patients related to clinical trials; and 2) Educate community partners in precision medicine, clinical trials, patient perspective and experience, and the importance of minority representation in research. The proposed work will be conducted under the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center’s Community Outreach and Engagement, led by an expert team of investigators, physicians, and disparities researchers and staff.
