{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T07:06:20Z","timestamp":1784531180889,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784505600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Myeloma Canada"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Current Oncology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Inequitable access to clinical trials persists in blood cancers despite ongoing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts. Despite the critical role of clinical trials in improving survival and outcomes, recruitment remains suboptimal, limiting patient access to potentially life-saving therapies. Practical and scalable approaches are therefore needed to address the non-medical barriers that hinder patient readiness upstream of enrolment. Methods: Myeloma Canada led a national, multi-phase initiative using human-centred design (HCD) to operationalize EDI in clinical trials. Following an initial systems level workshop, the two-day Phase 0 workshop used a HCD approach that convened a purposively selected multidisciplinary group of stakeholders to co-design operational solutions for non-medical barriers affecting trial participation for patients. Given the use of purposive sampling, the results should be interpreted as reflecting a balanced range of diverse, informed perspectives across the Canadian clinical trial ecosystem. Results: Participants identified persistent cultural, logistical, financial, and linguistic barriers, along with fragmented awareness of available supports. Across diverse personas and care settings, all groups independently converged on a human-centred, equity-focused pre-trial navigation model supported by simple digital tools, including AI-enabled infrastructure drawing on curated resources from validated sources with appropriate governance, privacy, and oversight. Digital tools were proposed to support, rather than replace, human support and to align with existing health system realities. Conclusions: This hypothesis-generating work proposes a feasible, sustainable, and scalable equity-embedded, protocol-agnostic navigation framework. Its external hub-and-spoke structure can reduce non-medical barriers, strengthen trial access and accrual, and enhance representativeness. Pilot implementation that assesses feasibility, uptake, workflow impact, equity effects, and implementation burden is warranted.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol33070433","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T06:09:09Z","timestamp":1784527749000},"page":"433","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["An Equity-Embedded, Protocol-Agnostic Pre-Trial Navigation Model for Canadian Blood Cancer Trials: Findings from the Myeloma Canada Phase 0 Workshop"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Gabriele","family":"Colasurdo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Myeloma Canada, Dorval, QC H9P 2V4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-8512-1437","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alvina","family":"Nadeem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Alvina N. Consulting, Montreal, QC J5Y 0J4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nina","family":"Mason","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Arthur JE Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Cancer Care Alberta, Calgary, AB T2N 5G2, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juliette","family":"Royer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Halton-Peel Myeloma Support Group, Guelph, ON N1H 5V3, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephanie","family":"Soltys","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Johnson & Johnson, Toronto, ON M3C 1L9, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0156-4655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Henry","family":"Chan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Researcher, Toronto, ON M3B 3B4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-4584-2252","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Richard K.","family":"Plante","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"RKP NEXUS Consulting, Toronto, ON M4G 2N5, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julie","family":"Stakiw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Saskatoon Cancer Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 4H4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9670-2864","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joseph R.","family":"Mikhael","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michelle","family":"Oana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Myeloma Canada, Dorval, QC H9P 2V4, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (2026, January 15). Clinical Trials Environment in Canada. Government of Canada. Available online: https:\/\/ised-isde.canada.ca\/site\/canadian-life-science-industries\/en\/biopharmaceuticals-and-pharmaceuticals\/clinical-trials-environment-canada."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Innovative Medicines Canada (2026, January 15). Clinical Trials in Canada: Insights and Implications. Available online: https:\/\/innovativemedicines.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/6785_IMC_2025ResearchNote_ClinicalTrialsCanada_eng_final.pdf."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Statistics Canada (2026, January 15). The Canadian Census: A Rich Portrait of the Country\u2019s Religious and Ethnocultural Diversity. 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Proc."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2026, January 15). Consultation\u2014Building the future of clinical trials at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Available online: https:\/\/cihr-irsc.gc.ca\/e\/53198.html."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conctc.2018.09.003","article-title":"Patient navigation and clinical trial participation: A randomized controlled trial design","volume":"12","author":"Uveges","year":"2018","journal-title":"Contemp. Clin. Trials Commun."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Innovative Medicines Canada (2026, January 15). Providing Hope for Canadians: Early Access to Medicines Through Clinical Trials. Available online: https:\/\/innovativemedicines.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/6588_IMC_2024ResearchNote_ClinicalTrialsCanada_v2-1.pdf."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) (2026, January 15). Using AI to Connect Cancer Patients with Cutting-Edge Clinical Trials. Available online: https:\/\/oicr.on.ca\/using-ai-to-connect-cancer-patients-with-cutting-edge-clinical-trials\/."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) (2026, January 15). Let\u2019s Talk About Clinical Trials: Why Trials Are Important. Available online: https:\/\/oicr.on.ca\/lets-talk-about-clinical-trials-part-1\/."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network (2026, January 15). Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Clinical Trials. Available online: https:\/\/3ctn.ca\/equity-diversity-and-inclusion-in-clinical-trials\/."}],"container-title":["Current Oncology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1718-7729\/33\/7\/433\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T06:43:25Z","timestamp":1784529805000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1718-7729\/33\/7\/433"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7]]}},"alternative-id":["curroncol33070433"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/curroncol33070433","relation":{},"ISSN":["1718-7729"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1718-7729","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]]}}}