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I see so many new angles now where we need solutions in our industry – Bree Burks

Photo of Bree Burks from researchgate.net

Jul 8, 2023, 12:28

I see so many new angles now where we need solutions in our industry – Bree Burks

The last two weeks have been full of reflection. I had the honor of attending the Association of American Cancer Institutes 2023 Clinical Research Innovation conference where I was surrounded by the hands and feet bringing new therapies to cancer patients all across the US. 👐👣 These people are incredible and have been forced to remain overly resilient as they navigate broken processes and hoop after hoop for the sake of their patients.

I felt equally full of gratitude for their unwavering service as well as despair that the keynote for this conference was all about how to build resilient teams in the face of their challenging work. THE KEYNOTE. 😖 We obviously have an urgent problem. 🆘

I had multiple strangers take time to introduce themselves, encourage me on our current clinical trial journey and share personal experiences validating our own. I saw many, many people exiting the conference sessions not to have side meetings and network but to connect with their patients and discuss urgent clinical decisions. These people NEVER STOP. 😓

I sat in a talk where colleagues discussed that its become common for a single regulatory person to support 30 trials right now. These are incredibly complex protocols. I cannot imagine. 👀

I had a bus ride where I listened to a site talk about the challenges of running a 500+ page protocol with more than 10 arms that we had just considered enrolling in. 500 PAGES. It felt overwhelming and complex from the patient perspective. I cannot imagine executing this from a site perspective. 🤯

I see so many new angles now where we need solutions in our industry. 😳

And, I so long to see more patients at the table providing their feedback to us. The fact that they are not present at the events I attend feels like such a gaping hole. 🙍‍♂️🙍‍♀️

Next week we plan to begin treatment on the trial. I am excited to provide an update and continue bringing all who have an interest along on this journey. I know this is just the beginning.

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