ASCO24 Updates: Dr. Isabel Preeshagul on Optimizing Clinical Trials and Overcoming Barriers

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is one of the largest and most prestigious conferences in the field of oncology. This year, the meeting took place from May 31 to June 4 in Chicago, Illinois. The event gathers oncologists, researchers, and healthcare professionals from around the world to discuss the latest advancements in cancer research, treatment, and patient care. Keynote sessions, research presentations, and panel discussions are typically part of the agenda, providing attendees with valuable insights into emerging trends and innovations in oncology.

This year, OncoDaily was at ASCO 2024 for the first time covering the meeting on-site. We had the pleasure of interviewing researchers who summarized the highlights of their work.

In this video, Dr. Isabel Preeshagul, a thoracic oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, shared insights on ‘Optimizing clinical research in a regional cancer center network: A survey-based approach.‘

Hi, my name is Dr. Isabel Preeshagul, and I am a thoracic oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. And I am joining today to discuss our research focusing on optimizing research in a regional care network setting in a cancer center, focusing on a survey-based approach. So I have a very strong interest in patient-centric clinical trials and identifying barriers to research specifically in a regional care network.

So we surveyed 208 oncologists throughout a regional care network cancer center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. And the survey was basically trying to identify barriers to conducting research and challenges that the medical team experienced on a day-to-day basis. We identified the survey, and the survey revealed three main barriers.

The first barrier was that there wasn’t face sheet alignment. So what that means is that they didn’t have the right doctors on the right face sheets to consent patients. The second issue was that we didn’t feel there were enough protocols open in the regional care network and appropriate protocols open in the regional care network.

And the third issue was lack or insufficient support staff to help us conduct the research in an efficient manner. So after evaluating these results, we were able to act upon these three issues. And as of May 2023, we have complete face sheet alignment, which has led to increased clinical trial accruals in the therapeutic setting and the non-therapeutic setting.

And we also increased support staff. Our focus now is to expand this outside of medical oncology to include radiation oncology, surgical oncology, and our neurology colleagues. And after we identify those barriers, we’re hoping to implement the same treatment plan going forward.

Thank you so much for having me. 

More videos and content from ASCO 2024 on OncoDaily.