The 14th annual meeting of the Association of VA Hematology/Oncology is set to begin near Chicago on Friday, September 28, 2018. The conference is expected to bring together hundreds of VA hematology and oncology care providers from across the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other federal health care systems. Helping VA health care providers increase access to clinical trials is expected to be a prominent theme of the meeting.
Subramanyeswara Rao Arekapudi, MD, MPH, FACP, of the VA Central California Health Care System ( VACCHCS) will provide an update on an effort to improve clinicaltrials.gov search functionality. As reported earlier this year , t hrough AVAHO, VACCHCS oncologists and a team at the Richmond VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Virginia are working with the National Institutes of Health to create a VA-specific cancer clinical trials’ filter at the website Clinicaltrials.gov .
Holly Carlson, RN, MSN, OCN, will also present on the development of a program in Des Moines, Iowa, to connect veterans with clinical trials at local and regional facilities. The program provides a framework for coordinating care between VA and non-VA oncology teams to ensure veterans can be included in open clinical trials without sacrificing their current care within the VA system.
According to Col (ret) Rick Starrs, CEO of the National Association of Veterans' Research and Education Foundations (NAVREF) , these are just a few of the many efforts underway to help increase access to clinical trials for veterans with cancer. Starrs will also be delivering a keynote address at the conference on opportunities for veterans in clinical trials. Formed in 1992, NAVREF is a nonprofit organization of research and education foundations affiliated with VA medical centers that facilitate research and education.
Starrs will discuss NAVREF’s role in playing a “matchmaking role” in connecting VA researchers and clinical trial sponsors. NAVREF also has helped the VA implement a $50 million agreement with the Prostate Cancer Foundation that expands clinical research for prostate cancer in the VA . “Our main goal is to bring more clinical trials to veterans and VAMCs,” Starrs told Federal Practitioner . According to Starrs, NAVREF has partnered with the AVAHO clinical research committee as well as other stakeholders throughout the VA to improve capabilities and increase “predictability” for research partners.
