Strategies for Enhancing Clinical Trial Participation from Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds

Meghan Blair, MS, CIP, is the Associate Director for Regulatory Affairs in the [Medical Oncology/CAR-T] Clinical Research Unit of the Abramson Cancer Center. In her role, Ms Blair is responsible to lead a team of Regulatory Affairs Professionals in providing clinical trial support associated with ensuring compliance with local, state and federal regulations governing review and reporting for human subject research. Her leadership attributes include ensuring clear expectations for professional and service-oriented performance, providing the necessary training and tools to ensure success both individually and as a team, and following performance using quantitative metrics. She values accountability, responsibility and transparent communication as fundamental factors that determine the success of her team. Ms Blair serves as a key opinion leader and subject matter expert as related to interpretation and application of regulation to the day-to-day clinical trial operations. Her passion for streamlining process to reduce regulatory burden and improve efficiency in the maintenance of required essential regulatory documentation is paramount. Ms Blair has defined best practice for the creation and maintenance of electronic regulatory investigator site files for the ACC leveraging the new technology, SiteVault. Outside of work, Ms Blair enjoys gardening, reading and watching the birds from her deck.

Eucharia Borden, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSWis the Vice President of Programs and Health Equity at Family Reach. In this newly created role, Ms Borden oversees the organization’s program development and delivery. This includes the expansion of Family Reach’s Cancer Equity Initiative, focused on meeting the needs of the most under-resourced and financially vulnerable populations in the cancer community. Ms Borden has dedicated the last 16 years of her career to the oncology field, working in patient advocacy and direct social work practice within acute inpatient and outpatient hospital settings. She is a past President of the Association of Oncology Social Work and a recognized AOSW Fellow. In her previous role as Vice President, Health Equity, at Cancer Support Community, Ms Borden was responsible for ensuring that CSC headquarters’ research, program, policy, and operations integrated relevant components of health equity, inclusion, and social determinants of health across all activities. Her steadfast commitment to ensuring all patients — regardless of race or socioeconomic status — have access to life-saving care has positioned her as a sought-after thought leader within the healthcare community. She has earned national media attention for her work and expertise in this space, including a Survivorship Today interview with award-winning actor and advocate Sterling K Brown and a leading spot in the “In Her Shoes” campaign hosted by Bristol Myers Squibb. As Vice President, Programs and Health Equity, at Family Reach, Ms Borden is responsible for strategic growth, innovation, and program implementation. Working alongside Famly Reach's internal team and external partners, Ms Borden will ensure Family Reach deepens and broadens its impact on families facing cancer nationwide.

Samantha (Sam) Guild, JD, left a successful career as a litigation attorney in 2008 to become the Director of Education, Public Policy and Advocacy for AIM at Melanoma, the foundation her mother, Valerie, founded after Sam’s sister Charlie died of melanoma in 2003. As President of AIM at Melanoma, Ms Guild works closely with grantors and the AIM team on future goals for the foundation. A large part of her role at AIM includes the oversight of the creation of resources for patients, caregivers and health care providers—resources such as patient treatment decision-making tools, AIM’s melanoma oncology nursing website, IO Essentials website and the AIM at Skin Cancer website. In her public policy work, Ms Guild led the effort in California that resulted in the passage of the first bill to ban minors under 18 from using tanning devices. She also oversees AIM’s effort to support oral parity and step therapy legislation on the state and federal levels. In her advocacy role at AIM, Ms Guild sits on a variety of governmental and non-profit working groups and committees where she advocates for the skin cancer community, including NCCN, SWOG and ECOG, and the ASCO’s systemic therapy melanoma working group. She is frequently asked by researchers and industry to share the patient perspective on topics of importance to their research. Ms Guild received a bachelor’s degree from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She earned her law degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, in Sacramento, California.

Desirée A. H. Walker was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 38 with a recurrence at 47. Her diagnoses motivated her to become a patient advocate to share her talents and aid diverse communities. She uses her platform to be a voice for the voiceless and pay it forward by educating and empowering people around the world. She serves as Young Survival Coalition’s Board President and is a member of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship’s Cancer Policy Advocacy Training; the Society of Integrative Oncology’s Patient Advocate and the Health Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committees; and the NCI SWOG Recruitment and Retention and Patient Advocate Committees, among many others. She also facilitates support groups for women of African descent who are dealing with breast and gynecological cancers. Ms Walker has appeared on ABC World News with Dr. Richard Besser, CBS with Dana Tyler, NBC’s TODAY Show, The Good Fight with Pat Battle, Here and Now with Sandra Bookman, The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne Tha God and NBC’s Weekend Today in New York. She is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s (NBCC) Project LEAD®. As a patient and research advocate, she brings her experience to a team of cancer researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine. She feels blessed to enjoy time with family and friends and bakes gourmet bread pudding. She is a foodie, enjoys traveling, the performing arts and sporting events.

Christine McLennan joined BioNTech during the global pandemic, as she was impressed with BioNTech’s passion and commitment to improving the health of people worldwide with innovative immunotherapies. In her current role, she partners with patient advocacy groups to create awareness of clinical trials designed for patient populations with unmet medical needs. Ms McLennan began her career as a clinical nutritionist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, where compassionate, patient-centered care and evidenced-based medicine were fundamental to clinical practice. She has been involved with patient support groups for over 30 years. Early on in her career, Ms McLennan helped to establish a local chapter of the Canadian Diabetes Association and also served as the nutrition advisor for local support groups for people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Celiac Disease. She then moved to the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Boston University, where she managed NIH-funded research studies in heart disease, arthritis and osteoporosis. Since 2008, she has directed clinical trials for a wide range of therapeutic indications for various CROs and small biotechs in the Boston area. She has great passion for preventive medicine and endorses advocacy work that promotes surveillance and early intervention among high-risk populations. Her goal as a healthcare professional is to engage in efforts that create access to effective and affordable health care for people across the globe.