Underserved populations across the nation are less likely to have a chance to participate in clinical research. Rhode Island Hospital and Advance Rhode Island-Clinical and Translational Research (Advance RI-CTR), a National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) funded research partnership out of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, are now part of a new clinical trials resource center poised to change that. This National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded project is headquartered at West Virginia University.
Clinical research trials provide participants with access to the newest and most advanced treatments and offer hope and opportunity for researchers to discover better treatments and cures for diseases. Launched in fall 2023, the IDeA State Consortium for Clinical Research Resource Center (ISCORE-RC) will enhance training and resources to ultimately increase the number of clinical trials in Institutional Development Award (IDeA) states, those 23 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, that traditionally have relatively low rates of funding from the NIH and limited numbers of NIH-funded clinical trials.
This 5-year grant, with estimated funding of approximately $2.85 million, was awarded to Dr. Sally Hodder, West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI) director, associate vice president for clinical and translational science at WVU, and Chancellor’s Preeminent Scholar Chair.
“This is an exciting opportunity to build clinical trial availability for underserved populations across the country,” said Hodder.
A variety of assets will be provided through the creation of the ISCORE-RC. ISCORE-RC will establish two distinct resources: 1) a clinical research coordinator development program (CRCDP) and 2) a clinical trials service center (CTSC). The CRCDP will train clinical research coordinators at sites across the country with self-paced online learning modules paired with mentorship and supervised hands-on training. The CTSC will address common barriers using a multifaceted approach including communication of upcoming clinical trials opportunities to IDeA investigators and effective marketing of IDeA states.
“We are very excited to participate in this key opportunity to enhance clinical trials at the institution and the state of RI and strengthen our clinical research workforce so that we can offer cutting-edge research to our patient population,” said John R. Fernandez, president and CEO of Lifespan.
“Clinical trials are an important step in the cycle of bringing advances in medicine to the patients who need them most, and we have to ensure that underserved populations are not left out of the process. ISCORE-RC will help us provide cutting-edge care to all Rhode Islanders,” said Mukesh K. Jain, MD, senior vice president for health affairs and dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University.
Dr. Sharon Rounds, principal investigator of the Advance RI-CTR program, notes, “We’ve been impressed with the organization at WVCTSI under Dr. Sally Hodder and are pleased to support this successful award. The training that will be given to clinical trial coordinators as part of ISCORE-RC dovetails perfectly with Advance RI-CTRs mission to support clinical and translational research in Rhode Island.”
The grant is led by Brown Advance RI-CTR principal investigator Dr. Sharon Rounds, Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at Brown University, and Dr. Ghada Bourjeily, Professor of Medicine, Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University and Lifespan.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24GM150446. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.