Bringing research closer to home
30 January 2025
| Clinical trials are crucial for making sure that new drugs, treatments, and medical devices are safe and effective. But people living in rural and remote areas, such as northern BC, are often unable to participate due to geography and limited access to research sites.
For Dr. Robert Olson, a radiation oncologist based in Prince George, reducing these barriers and enabling wider participation in trials is a social responsibility. “People who live in these communities want to be part of the research,” he says. “It also improves the science to be more inclusive.” Trials that include participants from diverse settings builds knowledge of how people may respond differently to potential treatments, Robert notes. “Clinical trials are care and sometimes the only way to get a new intervention,” says Robert, demonstrating his commitment to keeping patients at the centre of research and care. Through his leadership, northern BC is the first region within a global cancer therapy trial to test a model that supports wider participation by rural and remote patients. |
Dr. Robert OlsonHealth Research BC supported Dr. Robert Olson through a 2017 Health Professional-Investigator Award. He also received the 2024 Clinical Trials BC Leadership & Advocacy Award for his longstanding efforts to advance clinical research. |
Credit: UBC Northern Medical Program |
Participants typically must return to the hospital where a trial is run for follow-up care and examinations. This can deter many individuals from participating due to travel times and costs.
Robert is training Northern Health family doctors to conduct follow-up appointments in communities, reducing patients’ travel burden and making it easier to get involved in research. The trial, SABR-COMET-3, is investigating a high-precision cancer therapy (SABR) that delivers high doses of radiation to tumour sites in as little as one treatment. Robert leads the multi-country trial right from Prince George, investigating the treatment’s impact on reducing cancer spread and improving survival. SABR’s targeted approach has shown significant improvement in patient outcomes in previous trials. “This also means fewer hospital visits for patients [compared to traditional radiotherapy treatment],” Robert says. Training local research talent is a key part of improving clinical trial access in areas such as northern BC. Robert is helping to build the north’s capacity for high-quality clinical trials by mentoring trainee Curtis Leclerc. |
| Curtis is the first UBC Northern Medical Program student to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree, a unique program that allows students to combine their medical school experience with intensive scientific training.
Like Robert, Curtis has a special interest in rural health and research. “Growing up in a small community, I witnessed the disparities between rural and urban settings, which helped fuel my desire to want to make a difference in underserved areas,” he says. “I am excited to have the opportunity to focus on my passions for healthcare and research in a northern environment and contribute to the improvement of healthcare in northern BC.” As Robert, Curtis and others advance clinical research in northern BC, the benefits – for patients and the healthcare system – will be felt throughout the province and beyond. |
Curtis LeclercCurtis Leclerc’s clinical trials training is supported by a Doctoral Studentship from CIHR’s Canadian Consortium of Clinical Trial Training Platform (CANTRAIN) co-funded by Health Research BC. |
| Dr. Robert Olson Professor and Head, Division of Radiation Oncology, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia Medical Director, BC Cancer – Prince George, Provincial Health Services Authority Dr. Robert Olson is a clinician scientist who lives in Prince George. He is the Provincial Division Head of Radiation Oncology at UBC. He practices radiation oncology at BC Cancer – Prince George, where he is the 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. He is a UBC Northern Medical Program researcher, where he is working with Northern Health, the University of Northern British Columbia, and UBC to increase the clinical trial infrastructure of northern BC, opening some of the first clinical trials in the region, leading to better access to trials for northern British Columbians. He leads the vision of radiotherapy clinical trials at all six BC Cancer sites. He has successfully turned BC Cancer into a world leader on precision radiotherapy in the setting of oligometastatic cancer (where cancer has spread to one-to-five sites in the body). Robert is part of the team who created the Canadian Remote Access Framework for Clinical Trials (CRAFT). The framework helps enable clinical trial participation for patients who do not live near healthcare sites (where trials are primarily offered). He is also a Michael Smith Health Research BC 2017 Health Professional-Investigator award recipient. Curtis Leclerc His long-term goal is to deliver medicine and research to northern communities. Before coming to UBC, he completed his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology at the University of Manitoba and went on to complete his Masters of Science with a focus on hypoxic brain injuries. |
