What's New at COHS

We’ve been steadily gaining momentum and raising the awareness about cancer clinical trials in a number of ways. On October 16, 2007 we convened a half-day symposium at University of Massachusetts Boston Campus Center, “Revolutionizing Access: Cancer Clinical Trials and Communities of Color”. There were over 100 attendees including cancer survivors, oncologists, community leaders, academics, city public health officials, health care providers, pharmaceutical representative, and research staff. The highlights of the symposium included panel presentations on particular topics (i.e. promising practices for recruitment and retention), breakout sessions to discuss barriers to participations and possible barrier reduction strategies, a keynote presentation by Dr Claudia Baquet, and a closing remarks (call to action) by the Commissioner of Public Health for the commonwealth of Massachusetts, John Auerbach.

We’ve also been featured in local: the “People’s Platform” of the Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN), a program on “Urban Update” of WHDH, Ch.7, and a column in the White Coats Section of the Boston Globe (PDF 12KB)

In terms of training we organized our first training for clinical investigators/staff on November 29, 2007 at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Our community leader peer trainers reached 59 individuals through workshops from October to November (116 total for 2007), moving us past our target of educating 100 community leaders in 2007. This is largely due to the contributions made by our lead trainer Rose Brayboy and the growing confidence of our trainers.

For more information about any of the above information or to learn more about the BID Initiative feel free to contact us at 617-384-8523.