Sharing Responsibility to Increase Representation in Cancer Clinical Trials

In an interview with CancerNetwork® at the 2026 Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) Summit, Patricia A. Robinson, MD, discussed practical changes that have helped increase representation in cancer clinical trials. She described the steps her institution has taken, including partnering with community-based organizations. She also noted that investigator-initiated trials have played a substantial role [in addressing] these gaps.

Robinson explained that improving representation is a responsibility shared by institutions, investigators, and cooperative groups such as SWOG and the Big Ten CRC. She added that groups that set guidelines, such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), depend on robust data from diverse populations of patients. Those data are needed to confirm that a treatment can be considered the standard of care for all patients.

Robinson is associate director for cancer health equity at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. She is also an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

CancerNetwork: Diversity in clinical trial enrollment remains low. What specific, practical changes have moved the needle at your institution or through cooperative groups such as the Big Ten CRC or SWOG?

Robinson: Our institution, Northwestern University, has been very intentional about increasing representation in clinical trials. That has included engagement with community-based organizations and having a specific, identified person at our institution, Adam Murphy, MD, MBA, MSCI, who is intentional about the work he is doing. Investigator-initiated trials have also significantly contributed to increased representation in clinical trials.

It is a responsibility that we all share. It is the responsibility of SWOG, our institutions, the cooperative groups, the Big Ten [CRC], and investigators to make sure there is representation across clinical trials. The rationale is that organizations such as the NCCN, which sets the guidelines, depend on the quality and robustness of the data to make it applicable to all patient populations and to validate it as a standard of care. The more representation, the more people we have participating in clinical trials, the more applicable the data.