BMC Receives $2.2 Million from the National Cancer Institute

A grant from the National Cancer Institute will help BMC enroll more
minorities into cancer clinical trials. The hospital currently boasts
one of the highest minority enrollment rates in the United States.

Boston Medical Center recently received a $2.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to launch a minority-based community clinical oncology program. The program will build on the success of BMC’s established Cancer Clinical Trials Program with the aim to increase minority enrollment in clinical trials.

Thanks to culturally sensitive outreach, recruitment, enrollment and retention, minorities currently account for 48% of enrollments onto BMC’s interventional cancer clinical trials. However, lack of resources has prevented the extension of these services into Boston's most impoverished and diverse communities.

With help from the NCI grant, BMC will place patient navigators (experts trained to help patients overcome their barriers to care) at five of the hospital’s affiliated community health centers to help refer appropriate patients for evaluation of clinical trials. Enhancing access to clinical trials across the cancer care continuum, from prevention through diagnosis, treatment and survivorship, will add another dimension to the quality of cancer care BMC currently provides it patients.