ASK US: What is CRAFT and its involvement in clinical trials in BC?

People who live far from healthcare sites where clinical trials are primarily offered can often experience barriers to participating in trials.

 

The Canadian Remote Access Framework for Clinical Trials (CRAFT) helps enable clinical trial participation for such patients. By reducing travel times and associated costs, CRAFT makes trials more accessible to rural and remote populations. In BC, CRAFT has enabled researchers to open more clinical trials in the North and other rural areas, leading to increased participation from rural and Indigenous patients.

 

Our guest speakers for this episode are Dr. Bernie Eigl, medical oncologist, BC Cancer and Dr. Robert Olson, provincial division head of radiology oncology, UBC. Our guest speakers were involved in the creation of the CRAFT framework. Dr. Eigl was the recipient of the Service and Support Award and Dr. Olson was the recipient of the Leadership and Advocacy Award for the 2024 Clinical Trials BC Awards.

 

Join us for our first ASK US episode of 2025 to hear Drs. Eigl and Olson highlight the successes and challenges of implementing CRAFT nationally and provincially through their hands-on experiences.

 

Learning objectives

The learner will be able to:

• identify the challenges of partnering with community healthcare providers to provide decentralized clinical trials
• understand the benefits of engaging community healthcare providers in research
• discuss the benefits of running clinical trials from smaller, rural-focused centres

 

Speakers

Dr. Bernie Eigl 

Deputy head, department of clinical research, BC Cancer, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA)  

Director, provincial clinical trials office, BC Cancer, PHSA 

Medical oncologist, BC Cancer – Vancouver Centre, PHSA 

Clinical associate professor, faculty of medicine, University of British Columbia

 

Dr. Eigl is a staff medical oncologist at BC Cancer Vancouver Centre, and clinical associate professor, University of British Columbia. He is the founding director of the Provincial Clinical Trials Office, and deputy head, department of clinical research at BC Cancer. The focus of his roles is to strengthen and further develop the clinical trial capabilities of all six BC Cancer centres, and to improve access to clinical trials for those living with cancer across British Columbia. His own research interests focus on genitourinary oncology clinical trials and biomarker research, with a special focus in bladder cancer.

 

Dr. Robert Olson 

Professor and head, division of radiation oncology, department of surgery, faculty of medicine, University of British Columbia 

Executive medical director, BC Cancer – Prince George, Provincial Health Services Authority

 

Dr. Rob Olson is a clinician scientist who lives in Prince George, BC. He is the provincial division head of radiation oncology at UBC. He practices radiation oncology at BC Cancer – Prince George, where he is the executive medical director, and predominantly treats breast cancer, head and neck cancer, and metastatic disease. He is the lead of several international clinical trials looking at the use of precision radiotherapy in the setting of oligometastatic disease, where he proudly leads a team of dedicated research staff from northern BC. In his spare time, he spends time with his family (which includes four kids, three dogs, and a cat), and he enjoys skiing, biking, swimming, or preferably running.