Paula Aristizabal, MD, a pediatric oncologist at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, was awarded $4 million to expand a program focused on improving diversity in pediatric cancer clinical trials.
The original program, Childhood Malignancy Peer Research Navigation, or COMPRENDO, was founded in 2018, according to an Oct. 10 news release from Rady Children's. The program focuses on the inclusion of Hispanic families, who have historically demonstrated low participation in clinical trials and inferior clinical outcomes compared to non-Hispanic Whites.
With the new funding, Dr. Aristizabal intends to expand her research in San Diego and add three new sites: Boston, San Francisco and Alabama.