Clinical trials’ value for cancer and San Antonio

Time & Date

Monday, March 2, 2020

Dr. Amelie Ramirez discusses the importance of the 180+ clinical trials happening at the Mays Cancer Center, and their positive impact for a city with a high Hispanic population. She also talks about the benefit of patients enrolling in clinical trials and the positive effects for ethnic groups.

San Antonio has a special role to play when it comes to clinical trials. Due to the lack of minorities represented in such trials, San Antonio's Hispanic population makes the city an ideal environment for conducting cancer studies. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of new cancers over a five-year period for Hispanic women was 327 for every 100,000 people and 354 for every 100,000 people in men. Those numbers are expected to rise by the year 2030 at a rate of 142% of new cases.

San Antonio’s population is 64% Hispanic. Amelie Ramirez, PH, MPH, the Chair of Population and Health Sciences and Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement for the Mays Cancer Center within UT Health San Antonio, wants to make sure that Hispanics are adequately represented in the more than 180 clinical trials happening at the cancer center. Patients who are part of the trials always get the standard treatment plus the new tested form of therapy to see its effectiveness, and they are always safe.

Find out more about clinical trials at the Mays Cancer Center here.