Photograph courtesy of SSM Health Care
Cancer patients have enough concerns; commuting to clinical studies shouldn’t be one of them. Now that SSM Cancer Care and Saint Louis University have developed a partnership for cancer research, patients’ traffic troubles will lessen. Eventually, those living outside the city limits will have access to more than 60 clinical trials through SLU at various SSM sites in the St. Louis area. “Right now cancer is scary enough, let alone navigating an academic medical center everyday for six weeks to access research,” says Aaron Robinson, SSM Cancer Care’s director of strategy and business development.
The partnership provides SSM patients with access to the most advanced care in the city without having to stray from their usual treatment centers. Patients currently enroll in breast-cancer studies at the SSM Cancer Care pilot site at St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis. “That’s a 45-minute drive if you’re going to drive into town every day,” says Dr. Mark Varvares, director of Saint Louis University Cancer Center. “Now these academic clinical trials are available in their own community.” During the next several months, SSM may expand the partnership to St. Louis-based St. Mary’s Health Center and Fenton-based St. Clare Health Center.
For the past year and a half, SSM Caner Care has worked to assure academic medical trials could be conducted safely within a community setting. The company considered partnering with national organizations, including The Sarah Cannon Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center. The success of previous partnerships and the desire to keep the connection local, however, made Saint Louis University the best fit.
“Our primary goal is to make sure patients have access to the most advanced care,” says Robinson, “but we also believe it’s best to be delivered in a community setting.”
