NCI-funded researchers recently began a partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) experts from ConcertAI, LLC, to improve diversity in cancer clinical trials in the U.S. Gulf South region. NCI has provided funding to Louisiana State University Health New Orleans, one of the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) sites since 2014, to help establish a clinical trials network in the region and expand the network, focusing on minority and underserved patients.

This new work hopes to analyze the impact of clinical research in reducing health inequities by using AI to improve patient screening at cancer clinical trial sites, enrollment, retention, and ultimately health outcomes of the underserved.

“Gulf South’s demographic changes, post-Katrina, provide a unique opportunity to use AI to assess the benefits of cancer clinical trials participation and health outcomes,” says NCI's chief of the Community Oncology and Prevention Trials Research Group, Worta McCaskill-Stevens, M.D., M.S.

If you’d like to learn more about the NCORP network and its methods for supporting clinical trials, visit the NCORP website.