Connecting Underrepresented Populations to Clinical Trials

The Connecting Underrepresented Populations to Clinical Trials (CUSP2CT) program will implement and evaluate multilevel and culturally tailored outreach and education interventions with the primary goal of increasing referral and ultimately, accrual of underrepresented racial/ethnic (R/E) minority populations, to NCI-supported clinical trials (CTs) (National Clinical Trial Network (NCTN), NCI's Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), and Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN)).

These programs' target population(s) will include individuals from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority populations and will address cancer health disparities through a network of local multidisciplinary and integrated partners. Without adequate representation, especially in therapeutic trials, cancer disparities are likely to increase as R/E populations may not be able to fully benefit from cutting-edge treatments and the promises of precision medicine.

Despite the decline in overall mortality and incidence of cancer in the US population, disparities in cancer care still largely exist within certain groups. One key barrier causing the lack of proportional representation of these groups is the lack of dedicated efforts employing scientific rigorous approaches and implementation strategies for increasing their proportional representation in clinical trials.