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Top 10 Things to Know About Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials

Man speaking with his doctor at her desk

Elisabeth Heath, professor of Oncology & Medicine at Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Charles Ryan, professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, share important things to know about prostate cancer clinical trials. 

Clinical trials must reflect the patient community so that new and better treatment options become available. Researchers and trial sponsors can confront health disparities by ensuring clinical trials are diverse, inclusive, and representative of the entire patient population.

This session was part of our VIRTUAL ZERO Prostate Cancer Summit, a free online event that took place from February 28 to March 4, 2021.


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Contributors

Elizabeth Heath Headshot
Elisabeth Heath, MD, FACP, Associate Center Director, Translational Sciences

Dr. Heath has more than 26 years of experience and is a leading patient advocate for the metro Detroit community. At the ZERO Prostate Cancer Summit, she spoke about funding clinical trials and how that translates into better care for prostate cancer patients.

Charles Ryan MD Headshot
Charles (Chuck) Ryan, MD, Genitourinary Oncologist

Charles J. Ryan, MD, is an internationally recognized genitourinary (GU) oncologist with expertise in the biology and treatment of and supportive care of all men with prostate cancer. Dr. Ryan earned a BA in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Marquette University and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He trained at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

As faculty at the University of California-San Francisco, he was named the Thomas Perkins Distinguished Professor in Cancer Research. He has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Ryan has published over 200 articles and chapters in the world’s leading medical journals and is the author of the book The Virility Paradox: The Vast Influence of Testosterone on Our Bodies, Minds, and the World We Live In. Dr. Ryan is a past Chair of the National Cancer Institute’s GU Steering Committee’s Prostate Cancer Task Force.

From 2018 to 2021 he served as Director of the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation at the University of Minnesota, where he was the BJ Kennedy Chair in Clinical Oncology. From 2021 to 2024 Ryan served as the CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He serves on the Scientific Oversight Committee of the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium and is a member of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference. Beginning October 2024 he will be a member of the faculty at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

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