{"entity":{"id":"idea-tr1-lay-trial-navigators","kind":"idea","name":"Lay trial navigators funded per centre, evaluated in a randomised trial","aka":[],"tldr":"A trained non-clinical guide who explains trials, arranges logistics and keeps in touch could make the difference between a patient hearing about a trial and actually joining one.","summary":"Fund one lay navigator per 300 new cancer patients at community and safety-net hospitals, with a defined role: identify potentially eligible patients from matching tools, explain trials in plain language, coordinate screening logistics and follow up. Patient navigation improves timeliness of cancer care; the specific effect on trial enrolment has small positive studies and deserves a definitive randomised test.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Trials enrol too few, too slowly): Unger et al., Systematic review of barriers to cancer trial participation (JNCI 2019)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djy221"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["nci","asco"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-trial-enrolment","b-trial-diversity"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Patients randomised to a navigator will have at least a 50 percent higher trial enrolment rate than usual care, with the largest effect in minority and low-income patients.","rationale":"Enrolment fails on logistics and trust more than on eligibility. Navigators address both and are far cheaper than clinical staff.","test":"Individually randomised trial at six hospitals, 3,000 newly diagnosed patients, primary outcome enrolment in any interventional trial within 12 months.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"medium","horizonYears":2},"route":"/ideas/idea-tr1-lay-trial-navigators/","neighbours":{"institution":[{"id":"asco","kind":"institution","name":"American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)","route":"/institutions/asco/"},{"id":"nci","kind":"institution","name":"National Cancer Institute (NIH)","route":"/institutions/nci/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-trial-diversity","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Trials do not represent the people who get cancer","route":"/bottlenecks/b-trial-diversity/"},{"id":"b-trial-enrolment","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Trials enrol too few, too slowly","route":"/bottlenecks/b-trial-enrolment/"}]}}