Cancer Care Connections
Cancer Care Connections
Cancer Research Close to Home: How Clinical Trials Shape the Future of Cancer Care
The future of cancer care is happening right now through clinical research, and patients in Hampton Roads have front-row access to these groundbreaking treatments at Virginia Oncology Associates (VOA).
Wendi Gobhardt, Director of Research Operations, and Chris Morris, Clinical Research Manager, reveal how clinical trials work and why they matter. With backgrounds deeply rooted in cancer care, Wendi, an oncology nurse, and Chris motivated by personal loss to breast cancer, bring both professional expertise and heartfelt commitment to advancing cancer treatments.
The conversation breaks the clinical trial process, explaining how treatments progress through phases from initial safety testing to becoming standard of care. Contrary to the "guinea pig" misconception, patients in trials often receive more attentive monitoring and what VOA calls "concierge service" throughout their treatment journey. With 64 active trials covering breast cancer, blood cancers, prostate cancer, and more, VOA offers local access to treatments that previously required travel to distant medical centers.
Most exciting are the advancements these trials enable, personalized medicine targeting specific molecular characteristics of tumors, innovative radiopharmaceuticals delivering radiation through IV administration rather than external beams, and cellular therapies like CAR-T are transforming outcomes for patients who previously had limited options.
For those considering participation, the experts offer practical advice: thoroughly review consent documents, ask lots of questions, bring family to appointments as "extra ears," and understand all available options. Every patient who participates not only potentially benefits themselves but contributes valuable data that helps future generations.
Resources
https://www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you
https://www.virginiacancer.com/clinical-trials
Thank you for listening! If you're interested in hearing more from Virginia Oncology Associates, make sure to subscribe to Cancer Care Connections on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere podcasts are available, or listen online at cancercareconnections.buzzsprout.com.
Cancer Care Connections is the official podcast of Virginia Oncology Associates. For more information, visit us at VirginiaCancer.com. or find us on Facebook or Instagram at Virginia Oncology Associates.
INTRO: 0:06
Welcome to Cancer Care Connections. On today's episode, Cheryl spoke with Wendi Gobhardt, Director of Research Operations, and Chris Morris, Clinical Research Manager at Virginia Oncology Associates. Together, they pull back the curtain on how clinical trials work, why they matter, and what they mean for patients and families. Whether you're a patient, caregiver, or simply curious, this episode offers practical advice, heartfelt stories, and a powerful reminder: every clinical trial participant is not just receiving care, they're helping shape the future of cancer treatment.
Cheryl: 0:45
Today, we're talking about something that has the potential to save lives. We're talking about clinical trials. If you've ever wondered how new cancer treatments are tested or how patients in Hampton Roads can access cutting-edge care without leaving their community, this episode is for you. I'm here today with Wendi Gobhardt, the Director of Research Operations, and Chris Morris, the Clinical Research Manager at Virginia Oncology Associates. Today, we're diving into how clinical trials work, who they're for, and what it means to be a part of the future of cancer care right here at home. Wendi and Chris, thanks so much for joining us today.
Wendi/Chris: Thank you, thank you.
Cheryl: Let's start with getting a bit of a backstory. How did you get into this field and, in particular, why clinical research? Wendi, let's start with you.
Wendi: 1:34
So I'm an oncology nurse and have been in oncology for the last 37 years. I came to VOA actually with the opportunity to start a phase 1 clinical trial program. At the time, clinical research was relatively new in terms of my own personal role, and so I kind of learned from the ground up. I had the opportunity to build out our phase 1 clinical research area, make sure that we had all the necessary equipment, and then start procuring trials and enrolling patients on those trials. I did that for the first couple of years of my time at VOA, and then I moved into a management position. While I oversaw the phase 1 program and all of the research program at VOA, I was not physically involved with the administration of the trials.
Cheryl: 2:31
I imagine this was so fulfilling, as you're starting your career in nursing, and then you get to see the impact of the trials. Talk a little bit about that, if you would.
Wendi: 2:41
I feel like we are always on the cutting edge, or sometimes we say bleeding edge, with regards to what's available to our patients, and it's been really an honor to see the impact that some of the trials that we've done and how they've impacted patient care in our communities. I know of one trial in particular, back when immunotherapies were first being developed; we were doing the phase 1 work for what is marketed today as Ticentriq®, and we enrolled a large volume of patients on that trial. At the time, it only had letters and numbers, but we give it to many of our patients in the clinic today. So I know we had one patient who had had five or six prior lines of therapy with lung cancer, and he had a remarkable complete response to it, and I think that was one of the first very exciting outcomes that I had the opportunity to be part of and witness.
Cheryl: 3:45
Yeah, that's why you do what you do, that is why you do this, and so, as we continue this talk today, please bring more of those stories that you can share. I think that is something that our audience would appreciate hearing; the real-life families and the real-life people that the work you're doing touches. All right, Chris, over to you. How did you get into this and, in particular, this research part?
Chris: 4:09
Yeah, you know I don't quite have the years of experience that Wendi does, but you know, cancer is something, unfortunately, that touches most people, either personally or perhaps someone close to them. You know, my own journey into oncology really began with my late wife, who passed away from breast cancer in 2009. That was an incredibly challenging experience watching her go through treatments and surgeries and whatnot, but it also planted a seed in me to really want to help people who are going through similar battles. I didn't quite know how to direct that passion at the time, but fast forward a couple of years after that, and my current wife, who's been incredibly supportive, encouraged me to think about nursing.
Chris: 4:59
So after some reflection, I thought about that and decided to make a pretty significant career change after 20 years in the business world. I went to nursing school in my early 40s, and at the time, I wanted my focus to really be on oncology and perhaps even research. Fast forward a couple of years after that, and I found myself working in the same hospital alongside some of the same physicians who treated my late wife. So a bit of a surreal experience, but also very, very rewarding at the same time. Now at VOA, I have a chance as the clinical research manager to really be a part of the mechanism that advances cancer treatments and has a real impact on other people going through a similar type of battle, not just the patients, but also their caretakers as well.
Cheryl: 5:58
Chris, thank you so much for sharing your story, and thank you for taking that story and turning it into something new, so I appreciate that.
Chris: Thank you.
Cheryl: Let's kind of go back in and explain some things. First, Wendi, you talked to us a little bit about some of the successes, but before that, let's get some definitions. What is clinical research, especially in the field of oncology, and what is the main goal of that research?
Wendi: 6:28
Yeah. Clinical research and the term clinical trials are often interchangeable, and it's a systematic scientific approach to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new therapies, whether they be new drugs, new devices, new diagnostic procedures, or new regimens. So, oftentimes in clinical research, drugs are combined with existing drugs that are already commercially available. We use what's termed a protocol, usually a 200-page document that is designed to capture all of the necessary details that need to be fulfilled to ensure that we're treating the patients in the safest way, to ensure that we know what population is being targeted for this study, and to understand when we're being successful. So there's the statistical analysis that takes place as the study is being designed. It also talks about how the investigational product is managed and what assessments need to be done to ensure the safety of the patients who are on the trial.
Wendi: 7:47
That protocol was mandated by the regulatory authorities for us to follow in great detail. And research is heavily regulated, so there's a lot of activity going on from our FDA or the European agency to ensure that we're in compliance with that protocol. The real basis for clinical research, though, is the data, and while we love to think that we are sharing the most exciting and new opportunities for patients while they're on clinical trials, the reality is that we're getting the information from those patients and that information is collated across the study, whether it be here in the US only or a global study, which many of our studies are. That data is then analyzed at varying points throughout the clinical trial to assess safety and efficacy and to learn more about the diseases that we're treating, because there's a lot of additional assessments and laboratory tests and the like that are done to assess that, and then it's closely reviewed by those regulatory agencies. That's what helps us get drugs to market or devices to market.
Cheryl: 9:05
So this work is critical in order to get real results for patients.
Wendi: 9:10
It absolutely is. Yes, the only way we have the ability to move forward in health care and in oncology is through patient participation in clinical trials, because that's the only thing that allows us to get approval for those drugs and make them available to the greater public.
Cheryl: 9:27
Could you walk us through the different phases of a clinical trial and how they each contribute to developing those new treatments that we've been talking about?
Chris: 9:37
Oh, absolutely, I'd be happy to walk through that. We typically talk about the phases in four main components, but roughly they're broken down into safety, efficacy, comparison, and monitoring. So, for example, a phase 1 trial is really focused on safety. It's looking at what the highest dose is that you can give without some serious side effects, and what is the safe dose. That usually involves a pretty small group of participants.
Chris: 10:11
When it moves into phase 2, safety for the most part has been verified. But you're looking at the efficacy of it. How effective is this new treatment, this new drug? And so you're focusing on a slightly larger group than in the first phase. And then, when it moves into the third phase, the comparison phase, what you're really doing is comparing it to the current standard of care. You know at that point that it's safe and effective. What you don't quite know is that it is more effective than what's considered the current standard of care. So that's that comparison phase, and oftentimes, this involves a much larger group of patients.
Chris: 10:54
Oftentimes, if a new treatment or a new drug is successful in the third phase, this is where it would get approved and perhaps become the new standard of care in the future. This is the data that Wendi was talking about. Why is that so important? Because this is how those cancer treatment advancements are made. After that, phase 4 is really about long-term monitoring. At this point, you know the drug's already approved, and it's just in that monitoring phase. So each of these phases build on themselves as we go, and again, it's all about the advancement of cancer treatment science.
Cheryl: 11:35
That was very helpful. Thank you for walking us through that, and as people are listening to this and they're thinking about either their own situation or the situation of a loved one, they're wondering how this applies to them. So, Wendi, can you talk to us about some misconceptions that you encounter about taking part in these cancer clinical trials, from both the patient side and the provider side? That would be so helpful.
Wendi: 12:03
So I think perhaps one of the most common misconceptions is that you become a guinea pig when you participate in a clinical trial, and while you are somewhat of a maverick in the sense that you have the opportunity to receive therapies that we don't have much data about, there are so many elements built into the protocol that we follow to ensure the safety of patients. In fact, I would go so far as to say that patients who are on clinical trials are more closely followed. They have more assessments by their treating physician, more laboratory tests done to ensure that we're meeting the safety standard the FDA sets, and so I think patients need to recognize that. Also, we're obliged as research staff to ensure patients have the most current knowledge that we have from the clinical trial. So when a new update becomes available, or if there's a new risk that's identified, a new side effect, a new assessment that's required, we're obliged to notify the patients about that, so they're kept abreast of any changes, and then they have the opportunity to withdraw from the study at any time if there's anything that's of special concern to them. One of the other things that we often hear is the concern about cancer clinical trials, where the patient has the chance of not receiving any therapy at all. The placebo concerns that a lot of patients have and in cancer clinical trials in particular, the placebo is often used in the setting where a patient is already going to be receiving the standard of care and the use of the placebo allows the patient to get the investigational therapy as an add-on to the standard of care or they receive a placebo in lieu of the investigational therapy. That gives us the opportunity to compare the two groups of patients and remove the bias that can be associated with knowing the investigational therapy, the potential side effects, and perhaps, from an investigator standpoint, or staff, or even the patient, create biases in your mind about what is ultimately happening there. So that's the reason for the placebo use, and that is something that we often talk to patients about.
Wendi: 14:41
I can only think of a couple of studies in my career where we had a situation where patients received active therapy versus placebo, and those were in situations where the standard of care was to just observe the patient, what we would call watch and wait. So it's in a disease type where the patient may have very limited disease or a very slow-growing disease, and the normal process at that point is to observe that patient, scan them, or do blood work every few months to assess their status. In the setting of the active drug, we're adding now a new drug that could potentially lengthen the time that their disease stays quiet, and so you do see a placebo being administered to some patients because we don't know if there's an added advantage to giving those patients any additional therapy until we get the results of the trial. So those are the types of scenarios where you would see a placebo and the patient was not getting any other therapy.
Wendi: 15:57
The third misconception is that health insurance won't cover the cost of a clinical trial. There are federal laws that require most health plans to routinely cover patient care in clinical trials, so long as the patient is eligible, the trial is approved by the federal government, and the trial doesn't involve out-of-network doctors or hospitals. So those are some of the patient misconceptions. The provider misconceptions that I've most routinely run across are trials are only to be used for patients who have exhausted all other treatment options, and I can speak to that in particular as it relates to the phase 1 program that we had.
Wendi: 16:36
I think our physicians utilized that opportunity because they recognized that this was another option they could offer to patients, a phase 1 clinical trial.
Wendi: 16:46
Most of the phase 1 trials do start out in patients who've had a number of prior lines of therapy, but as we move through the progression of drug development, those trials become available in earlier lines of therapy and in some instances, the first line of therapy. So I think that's an important point to make to physicians who are not as familiar with clinical trials that there are opportunities for patients to participate in clinical trials early on in their cancer journey. One of the other things that we unfortunately often hear as research staff is that putting patients on clinical trials adds a lot of extra time to what the physicians need to do for those patients, and it may also be too time-consuming for the patients or inconvenient for the patients. We know that patients who participate on clinical trials do require additional visits. They require more assessments than patients outside of a clinical trial, and so those can be, in the physician's mind, something more than what the patient would have to undergo if they were receiving standard care.
Cheryl: 17:58
I think those are important points to share, to be made aware of, so patients and providers understand the playing field, if you will. I'm wondering if either one of you could address how particular clinical trials are launched and, at Virginia Oncology Associates, the numbers that are available for certain types of conditions.
Wendi: 18:25
At last count, we had 64 trials that were actively enrolling patients, and that's across all therapeutic areas; some more than others. We have a very large breast cancer program, and so that's where probably 15 of those 64 trials are geared. We have a growing hematologic and cellular therapy portfolio of trials. I think we're probably up to somewhere between eight and 10 active trials, with a number of additional trials in the pipeline right now. We have a number of GU trials as well.
Wendi: 19:13
So for prostate cancer, renal cell, bladder cancer, and then we have some smaller therapeutic areas, our GYN malignancies. We have a portfolio of four to six trials in that therapeutic area. I'm losing count here, but we have trials in the gastrointestinal space, we have head and neck trials, and lung cancer trials, so we cover most of the most common cancers. And those range from phase 1 through phase 3. Our program is pretty extensive, and it does give our community the opportunity. If they want to participate in a clinical trial, it's likely we would have something to offer them.
Cheryl: 19:58
Yeah, that's what I'm hearing, as you're describing just the breadth of support that you have for the different conditions. There are quite a few different clinical trials at Virginia Oncology Associates, and so, Chris, let me ask you, how does a patient get enrolled in a clinical trial?
Chris: 20:17
You know it starts with communication and close work with our providers. Most of the time, our providers, our physicians, our APPs are coming to us and saying, "Hey, I have a patient who I'd like to consider for a trial." Maybe they have a specific trial in mind, they might not, and this is where that communication starts. So our team looks at that patient and goes into what's called a pre-screening process to look at what we know about the patient at that time, and does it look like, based on what we know, are they eligible? There might be at some point some information that we don't have, but based on what we know, it looks like they might be eligible for this trial. And then we'll set an appointment to speak with the patient, go over the trial in detail with them, have that conversation, and make sure they understand what this trial is and what it involves. We are required, before we really move forward, to make sure they have that really solid understanding. We take the time to answer their questions. Oftentimes, those conversations can last an hour or more. I've seen some of them go two hours, and we'll take the time to help them, walk them through, help them gain that understanding, and make sure that they're comfortable and the family members who are with them are comfortable with the information. We allow them to take it home, take the information home and look at it, and set another appointment with them to answer more questions. At that point, if they're still ready to move forward, we'll get the consent to move forward, and that moves us into what's called a screening period, which can last usually around a month or so.
Chris: 22:01
That's usually the time frame that's given. Our goal is to minimize that, though, not take the whole month to do it. There are a lot of activities that need to take place. Perhaps there are some additional appointments, some additional tests, such as blood work or EKGs, that need to happen. There might be some scans or biopsies, depending on the trial.
Chris: 22:24
So there's a lot of coordination that our team does. But again, we're working behind the scenes to make that happen as quickly and as smoothly as possible and to walk that patient through each step of the process. Most importantly, to finish that screening period up and minimize it so that we're getting them enrolled on the trial and started on treatment as quickly as possible. Wendi mentioned a few minutes ago about how we work with the patients, and we provide that extra layer of service. One of the things that we like to say internally is that when a patient is on trial, they get what we call a concierge service, because we are doing all that work for them, such as the scheduling, so that they're not having to do that themselves. It is something that we do, and it is one of the benefits of being on a clinical trial.
Cheryl: 23:16
How about factors like geography, race, socioeconomic status, and even language barriers? How do those factors impact clinical trial access, and what is being done to address these factors?
Chris: 23:31
Those could be challenging factors for sure. You know, at VOA, we serve a very large and diverse population within this area, and we have about a 90% market share in that area, so we serve all of those demographics. It can be a challenge for sure, but our population of clinical trial patients really closely mirrors the demographics within this region. When a patient comes to this and again Wendi alluded to this a few moments ago, is that when a patient comes to us, it's very likely that we have a trial that they could be eligible for and, most importantly, all of our patients have the same access to clinical trials, regardless of their background or language barriers or socioeconomic status. All of our patients have that same access.
Cheryl: 24:25
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that, and I know we also wanted to talk about some of the benefits of taking part in something like this. And, Wendi, I'd love to hear your thoughts from a personal side, from a societal impact for patients who take part in something like this.
Wendi: 24:43
Yeah, so I mentioned earlier that patients who participate in clinical trials are gaining access to new treatments that aren't currently available to the rest of the public. We still have a lot to learn about those new treatments, but those patients can participate earlier on and perhaps derive benefit from them. I think one of the things that a lot of patients who participate in clinical trials are drawn by is the opportunity to contribute to science. These patients' data is collected and will increase the knowledge that we have about the disease, about the therapy. Even if the trial itself doesn't have the positive outcome that we would like. We learn every time patients participate in clinical trials, so it's really just expanding our scientific knowledge of their disease and the treatment. And then you know, with patients, I mentioned this earlier, they're having more frequent visits with their physician, they're having more frequent lab tests done, so they're more closely scrutinized. And I think patients who live with a life-threatening diagnosis feel like they're being more closely watched to hopefully catch something earlier on if their disease recurs or progresses.
Wendi: 26:05
And then, as Chris mentioned, I think at VOA, and I think this is true across clinical research and cancer care everywhere, these patients do have the concierge service. We don't make them go stand at the scheduler's desk to get their appointment to return or their multiple appointments. When they have to return, unlike our standard clinic patients, we come to them with a calendar. We try to cater to their needs in terms of when they would prefer for their visits to take place. We give them our direct phone number. So each of the research coordinators provides their patient with their direct number, and our coordinators, who know them very well throughout the participation in the trial, are the ones who are calling them back and know what's been happening with the patients. We are liaising with their treating physician and the treating physician's team. So I think those are all benefits that patients derive from participation.
Cheryl: 27:08
Thank you very much for that. As we talk about technology and advancements, I'd love to get your thoughts, Chris, on some of the developments in oncology research that excite you the most, whether in technology, in trial design, or in new treatments. We talk to a lot of the Virginia Oncology Associates experts here on this show, and they tell us all of the things that they're excited about, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on that right now.
Chris: 27:38
Oh, absolutely, and I would ask Wendi to jump in here as well, because we talk about this all the time; about the new treatments that are coming down the road, and it's new all the time, and there's certainly a lot of learning involved. You know, we get a chance once a quarter to talk to our new employees, and we talk about this topic because we go through the past couple of decades and talk about the advancements that have taken place already in cancer care, and it's tremendous. And then we kind of move in and touch on what's coming down the road, and it's always a really, really good conversation. You know, trials are getting a lot more complex, which is also representative of the advances that have already been made in the science of cancer treatment, advances such as immunotherapies. It's been remarkable, the advances in cellular therapy, things like CAR-T and TIL therapy that are just incredibly promising, and these are exciting for us because they're not only new treatments for patients, potentially, but they're new things that we can learn about as well.
Chris: 28:46
We as the whole community can learn about. You know the things that we're looking at, specific biomarkers. It is getting a lot more complex all the time, which it does go back to speak to that sort of enrollment phase and trying to, and speak to the challenges of getting potentially a patient enrolled, because we're looking for very specific things, but at the same time it is really reflective of the advancements that have been made and where it's going in cancer treatment. Wendi, I didn't know if you had anything else to add to that.
Wendi: 29:20
So I certainly do. I think personalized medicine has really taken a foothold in how we treat cancer care, and obviously, clinical research is at the forefront of that. You know, I remember back in the early days of my career that the drugs that were made available to our patients at that time were, sadly, something you could count on two or three hands. And now I don't even know what the current number is of drugs that are approved, but today we are able to look molecularly at the patient's tumor and able to determine what drives that tumor to grow and metastasize. And so, as Chris was mentioning, the biomarkers that we are assessing when patients are on clinical trials help us to determine which patients are most apt to respond to these therapies. Gone are the days when, if you had breast cancer, you got X regimen. Now we're looking at the molecular level of that tumor, and it may be that the treatment that we're administering to that breast cancer patient is very similar to the treatment that we're administering to the lung cancer patient because of what drives their disease to grow and metastasize.
Wendi: 30:43
That's a really exciting thing. One of the other things that we're kind of on the forefront of here at VOA and Hampton Roads is our radiopharmaceuticals. We're doing a number of clinical trials looking at the use of therapies that use radiation as the delivery method to the tumor, but it's administered in an IV format as opposed to the radiation beams, and so we have a number of trials that we've done over the course of the last several years using what's now a marketed drug, some may know it as Plavicto. We have a number of trials that we've just recently opened or are in the process of getting ready to open for other disease areas that will involve radiopharmaceuticals.
Wendi: 31:32
So that's another big growth area in our research program and, as Chris mentioned, certainly our cellular therapy program. We have had the opportunity to witness very rapid growth in the trials in that area and in the opportunities that are available now for patients in our region. They don't have to travel anymore to Richmond or to Duke or wherever to get these types of therapies, because we've brought them right here. We're administering most of those therapies, as some of your viewers may have heard on other shows, right here in the outpatient setting, and those include clinical trials with new therapies that haven't been tested yet. So those are exciting things that I think of in terms of innovation and, in particular, what we're able to do here at VOA.
Cheryl: 32:24
It is exciting, as you think about the work that these clinical trials do to further technology in medicine. So amazing. So let's just go, lastly, to advice. Someone who's listening to this, a patient, a caregiver, someone considering a clinical trial as part of their cancer treatment plan, what would you say to that person?
Wendi: 32:52
So I think Chris described to you the consent process and, as he described, we usually provide a high-level overview to the patient and then give them the sometimes 20, 30 plus page document to take home. I really encourage them to take it home and read it. I know that there's a lot going on when somebody's given a new diagnosis or when their disease has come back or is growing, but it's written in a way that is hopefully understandable to the patient and their family. I encourage them to also share that information with their family. Let their families read it over as well. Take the opportunity to write your questions down, because we're telling you a lot and we're asking a lot of you when you participate in a clinical trial. You need to have a good awareness of what you're getting yourself into if you participate in a trial. I think some of the questions that are important for them to think about and to be sure that they have answers to are how long am I going to be in this study? What is required of me in terms of the visits? How long will I be in the clinic? Some of our patients are here longer than eight hours in a day because of the extra things that we're asking them to do while they're on study. You can enroll in this trial and change your mind as you walk out the door, so there is nothing, forcing them to be in the study, but they need to know that they'll still continue to receive the same good care if they decide to leave the study.
Wendi: 34:34
I think an important thing that they need to understand is that they need to be told by their provider what their options are. We don't want to get into a situation where patients feel like their only option is a clinical trial. They have other options for conventional therapy. They have options not to receive therapy at all, but they should make sure that they have a full understanding so that they can make an informed decision about what is best for them. And then, I think, making sure that when they come in for that consent visit, they bring in an extra set of ears. Bring a trusted family member or friend, because you will find that patients get hung up on one certain topic that we're discussing and you know a lot of what is being said is in one ear and out the other because they're too hyper-focused on something that's really concerning to them. So we do encourage them to bring family members with them.
Wendi: 35:36
I think one of the other things that patients who are relying on an investigational drug or any drug for that matter is the fear that somebody's going to take it away if they have side effects. So making sure that they understand how important it is to disclose the side effects while they're on a trial so that we can manage their side effects safely early on and avoid them having serious complications that may make us have to withdraw them from the study.
Wendi: 36:11
The other thing is when it's a randomized clinical trial, some patients unfortunately come into it thinking that if I get randomized to the standard of care, I'm going to withdraw from the study, and what they don't realize is that we don't know that the investigational therapy at that point is any better than what is existing and available to them outside of the clinical trial. So the data from those patients who enroll and get randomized to the standard of care is as important as the data for those patients who are on the investigational arm of the study.
Cheryl: 36:56
Wendi, invaluable advice from someone who has helped countless people go through clinical trials at Virginia Oncology Associates. Would you recommend a resource or resources that someone can study up on before they make this decision or as they're trying to come to a decision? Anywhere you would suggest they go to get more information?
Wendi: 37:11
We, as research personnel, rely heavily on the NIH clinicaltrials.gov website. There's opportunities within that website to search by a variety of different terms, by the diagnosis, by locale, to find trials that are close to them, and the information that is posted to the website is valuable in terms of identifying the populations of patients, the eligibility criteria, what the treatment entails, and where they can reach out to a site closest to home if it's not something that we offer here. So I think that's a good opportunity for our patients to have access.
Chris: 37:58
I was just going to add to that, have the conversation with your physician proactively. Oftentimes physicians come to them, but I think it's also helpful when a patient comes in and says, "Hey, are there clinical trials available for this?", or perhaps they've gone to clinicaltrials.gov and located a trial, so I think the conversation one-on-one with the provider is also helpful.
Cheryl: 38:21
Any last things you'd like to say about this topic of clinical trials and the impact on patients? Chris?
Chris: 38:32
You know, a final thought, kind of piggybacking off what Wendi was just talking about, is that it's important for the patient, perhaps after they've looked at clinicaltrials.gov and done some research of their own is to come in with that information in mind and have that proactive discussion with their physician. It helps for them to come in with information ahead of time to have that really informed discussion with the provider about what clinical trials may be available, and having that conversation up front. And that's really a final thought that I had, and just again, sort of to piggyback off, what might be helpful and as a resource for patients is always their physician and their provider.
Cheryl: 39:12
Right, and communication is clearly key. Chris and Wendi, thank you so much. This has been such a helpful discussion. Thank you very much.
Chris/Wendi: 39:18
Thank you.
Exit: 39:26
Thank you for joining us today on Cancer Care Connections. We hope this conversation with Wendi Gobhardt and Chris Morris gives you a clearer picture of how clinical trials are not just about research. They're about real people, real hope, and real progress happening right here in Hampton Roads. Whether you're a patient, a caregiver, or just someone curious about the future of cancer care, remember that clinical trials aren't a last resort. They're often the first step towards tomorrow's therapies, and thanks to the work being done at Virginia Oncology Associates, those breakthroughs are more accessible than ever. If you're considering a clinical trial, take your time, ask questions, bring a loved one, and know that you're not alone. Every participant is part of something bigger, helping shape the future of cancer treatments for generations to come. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere podcasts are available, or listen online at cancercareconnectionsbuzzsprout.com. Cancer Care Connections is the official podcast of Virginia Oncology Associates. For more information, visit us at virginiacancer.com or find us on Facebook or Instagram at Virginia Oncology Associates.