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ACCC Community Oncology Research Institute

Approximately 85% of all patients with cancer are diagnosed and treated in community settings. Despite this, only 3% of those patients are enrolled in clinical trials. Inadequate time, infrastructure, resources, incentives, and reimbursement all contribute to this sparse participation rate.

To address this disparity, the ACCC Community Oncology Research Institute (ACORI) was launched in 2021. ACORI’s mission is to establish clinical trials as a standard of care for all patients, regardless of where they are treated, by helping community oncology programs access the tools, knowledge sharing, effective practices, and peer mentorships that can increase their ability to offer clinical trials.

ACORI's Three Primary Domains

EQUITY

We advocate for equal representation within clinical trials to trial sponsors and regulatory agencies. ACORI will develop education and resources that promote strategies and solutions to facilitate clinical trial accessibility, as we investigate persistent areas of disparities in cancer clinical trial participation.

CAPACITY BUILDING

ACORI utilizes ACCC know-how to build capacity and competency among community research programs to make them research-ready by democratizing knowledge, skills, and infrastructure for clinical research. We will also facilitate mentorship opportunities between established and developing research programs and convene community oncology stakeholders for peer-to-peer learning and networking.

RESEARCH DIFFUSION

ACORI is a primary resource for academic and industry sponsors that fosters relationships with trial sponsors and other research groups. The Institute vets research and trial opportunities and disseminates pertinent opportunities to interested community oncology research programs.

ACORI Research Review Newsletter: December 2024

Uncover proposed solutions to improving clinical trial access devised by key stakeholders at the ACORI Clinical Trial Design Summit. Review proposed strategies for improving geographic access to clinical trials. Learn how Avera Cancer Institute is leveraging their CancerTrialMatch application to streamline clinical trial navigation and how the PanCAN Clinical Trial Finder is simplifying pancreatic clinical trial search with their robust database and case managers. Discover what some cancer centers are doing to destigmatize and improve access to lung cancer clinical trials for Hispanic patients. Learn how ACT WONDER²S seeks to increase referral and enrollment of Black and Hispanic patients to therapeutic clinical trials.
Read the Latest Newsletter Previous Issues

ACORI Research Community: An ACCC eXchange Forum

A forum dedicated to making oncology clinical trials a standard of care. ACCC members can join the ACORI Research Community to:

Learn about clinical trial opportunities
Participate in lively discussion with motivated peers
Access tools and resources designed to help for research-naive programs expand their capabilities
And more!

Join Today

ACORI SUMMIT

ACORI hosts live summits that convene key stakeholders to discuss challenges in ensuring equitable access to clinical trials and addressing issues that impact community cancer centers' ability to conduct effective clinical research.

Community Oncology Inclusive Clinical Trial Design Summit

Held in October 2024, the Community Oncology Inclusive Clinical Trial Design Summit outlined a comprehensive strategy to improve inclusion in oncology trials. Key stakeholders in cancer care generated ideas for action items to make cancer care research more inclusive, efficient, and patient-centered. These discussions included aligning eligibility criteria with real-world populations, integrating AI into clinical trial design and operations, utilizing advanced practice providers (APPs) in clinical research, and innovative/decentralized trial designs to improve access and participation.

Call to Action Summit: Activating Equity in Community Oncology Research

Held September 13-14, 2021, in collaboration with Stand Up to Cancer, the ACORI Call to Action Summit: Activating Equity in Community Oncology Research identified concrete strategies for engaging patients, caregivers, and their communities to strengthen oncology research. More than 120 people from 60 organizations generated 200+ ideas for action items to make cancer care research more diverse, equitable, and accessible.

Read Executive Summary Watch On-Demand Replay

Clinical Research Terms Glossary

To help standardize understanding of baseline knowledge across cancer care teams, we’ve created this digital glossary of clinical research terms. We hope it will serve as a tool to improve patient education and encourage shared decision-making conversations.

Access the Glossary

ASCO-ACCC Initiative

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) jointly released resources to help research sites increase the racial and ethnic equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in cancer clinical trials.

The Just ASK™ Training Program and Site Self-Assessment are available free-of-charge and represent a full and complementary set of resources that can help research sites address barriers to participation in cancer clinical trials among racial and ethnic populations that have been historically underrepresented.

These resources follow the May 2022 publication of the ASCO-ACCC Research Statement "Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials," which outlines specific actions for individual stakeholders in the cancer clinical trial ecosystem to increase diversity in research participation.

CANCER BUZZ Podcasts

Missing Voices: Increasing Black Women’s Engagement in Patient Reported Outcomes in Breast Cancer Treatment - [Podcast] Ep 178 Feb 6, 2025

The imPROVE study aims to bridge the gap in patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data for Black women with breast cancer by enhancing engagement with tailored electronic PROs (ePROs) and partnering with community leaders to address barriers and ensure accessibility and relevance in community cancer care settings. In this episode, CANCER BUZZ speaks with Manraj Kaur, PhD, investigator and lead faculty for research and innovation at Patient-Reported Outcomes, Value, and Experience (PROVE) center at Mass General Brigham and Andrea Pusic, MD, chief of division of plastic and reconstructive surgery, director of PROVE center at Mass General Brigham, and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School about the imPROVE study’s efforts to enhance Black women’s engagement in ePROs in breast cancer treatment. Dr. Kaur sheds light on strategies to improve technology accessibility for Black women in their cancer care center by providing iPads and refined usability features on the imPROVE app. Dr. Pusic highlights imPROVE implementation results at five community cancer centers, including utilizing local champions and equitable access to resources.
[PODCAST] Ep 84: Increasing Clinical Trial Access for Blood Cancers Jun 7, 2022

Clinical trials are the best instrument to advance treatment for blood cancers, but numerous challenges exist around trial identification, enrollment, and participation. We’ll hear perspectives from a community provider and patient advocacy organization on immediate—and forward-thinking—solutions to help this population better access clinical trials, including a tool from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help patients identify cancer clinical trials that may be a fit.
[MINI-PODCAST] Ep 38: Improving Community Clinical Trial Participation Oct 13, 2020

Learn about the importance of reaching diverse populations with clinical trials where they live and how one clinical trial has prioritized community engagement.

News & Media

Randall-Oyer-HealthWell-Foundation-interview-240x137 Cancer Research Belongs in the Community
HealthWell Foundation, June 15, 2022

Randall-Oyer-AJMC-screenshot-240x137 Dr Randall A. Oyer: Clinical Trials Must Be Accessible to Everyone
AJMC, June 1, 2022

ACCC Community Oncology Research Institute Releases Groundbreaking Call To Action to Strengthen and Diversify Cancer Research
News Release, Jan 25, 2022

Abstracts & Presentations

[Abstract e13506] Characterization of Cancer Clinical Trials in the Community Setting
Published by Journal of Clinical Oncology, May 29, 2024. Presented at 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, May 31-June 4, 2024

The characteristics of 1,310 clinical trials conducted across 64 community oncology practices were reviewed to discern what factors may contribute to a trial being well-suited for the community setting. Additionally, the characteristics of trials run at community cancer centers were compared to factors that may favor an academic setting.
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Barriers to Clinical Trial Implementation Among Community Cancer Centers
Published on JAMA Network Open, April 29, 2024

In this national survey, it was revealed that while most cancer centers offered therapeutic trials, significant disparities exist for trial availability across different care settings. The study observed that smaller practices had fewer industry-sponsored trials, and rural and suburban practices had fewer early-phase trials. These findings highlight the need for targeted strategies to overcome these barriers.
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[Abstract #999] Clinical Trial Matchmaking: Connecting Sites to Sponsors
Presented at AACR Annual Meeting, April 10-15, 2024.

Oncology programs encounter many challenges when engaging in clinical trials. The Association of Cancer Care Centers’ (ACCC) Community Oncology Research Institute (ACORI) conducted a survey to gather insights about barriers to clinical trial implementation, patient recruitment, and identifying resources to support community cancer programs.
Learn More

Just ASK™ Training Program

Just ASK™: Increasing Diversity in Cancer Clinical Research

In 2022, adapted from a Duke University program pioneered by ACCC President Nadine Barrett, PhD, a course was developed for all members of the cancer care team to better understand the universal nature of implicit and conscious bias in cancer research and clinical trials. This online implicit bias training program that presents the broader context of structural and systemic racism, the role of implicit bias in clinical trial selection, vignettes with real-world examples of implicit bias, and guidance for mitigating disparities in cancer research settings.

The Just ASK™ Training Program, Training Facilitation Guide and Site Self-Assessment are available free-of-charge and provide a comprehensive, complementary set of tools to help research sites overcome barriers that have historically limited participation in cancer clinical trials among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

These resources build on the ASCO-ACCC Research Statement "Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials," published in May 2022, which outlines actionable steps for individual stakeholders in the cancer clinical trial ecosystem to increase diversity in research participation.

ACCESS THE TRAINING

From Oncology Issues

Action

ACORI recently hosted the Community Oncology Inclusive Clinical Trial Design Summit to address issues limiting equitable and diverse enrollment in clinical trials.
Just ASK!

Learn how one health care system is operationalizing the Just Ask™ implicit bias program to ensure equitable access to clinical trials.
Welcome to ACORI
Barbara A. Gabriel

Under ACORI, ACCC helps community oncology programs access the tools, knowledge sharing, effective practices, and peer mentorships that can increase their ability to offer clinical trials.
Highlights from the ACORI Call to Action Summit

The summit brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to explore practical ways to strengthen and diversify oncology clinical trials.