Kaiser Permanente and The Permanente Medical Group look to expand opportunities for physician involvement in clinical trials
The Permanente Medical Group’s Clinical Trials Program has established a new Academy of Clinical Trialists (ACT) to create more opportunities for Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) physicians to participate in, or even design, clinical trials. To kick off the ACT, the Clinical Trials Program (CTP) hosted its inaugural educational symposium on March 13 in Pleasanton.
“It is an exciting time as we aim to have KPNC be the best place to do clinical trials, develop new investigators, increase collaborations with other regions, expand the number of trials, and initiate high-volume patient enrollment to provide new treatment options,” said Douglas Corley, MD, PhD, chief research officer for TPMG and a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.
CTP Interim Medical Director and TPMG dermatologist Paradi Mirmirani, MD, and CTP Senior Managing Director Victor Chen, MS, led the ACT symposium. It was attended by 33 physicians representing 14 specialties across 15 KPNC facilities.
“Establishing an Academy of Clinical Trialists and hosting this symposium responds to requests from physicians for greater involvement in clinical trials,” said Chen. “There’s a lot of interest across multiple specialties from physicians who hear about new drugs or devices and want to be able to offer them to their patients and would like to help out on or lead a trial.”
The full-day program provided a comprehensive overview of the CTP and the responsibilities and requirements for physicians who serve as principal investigators for clinical trials. A panel discussion focused on FDA and KP compliance, core elements of regulatory guidance for principal investigators, and expectations of clinical trialists.
A guest presentation by Anita Kablinger, MD, a professor at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and senior expert at the Association for Clinical Research Professionals, covered clinical trial oversight, delegation, and risk mitigation.
Before attending the symposium, the attendees took part in online education programs developed by KP Learn and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals that address goals and standards for clinical trials.
“As TPMG physicians we provide excellent care, and I really think of clinical trials as an extension of that excellent care,” said Mirmirani. “Our trials provide important options for patients as well as a tremendous amount of professional satisfaction for our physicians who are involved.”
Darshana Pai, MD, an adult and child psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente in San Mateo,
was one of the physicians eager to attend the inaugural symposium. “The field of psychiatry is burgeoning with new ideas, and we want to be at the forefront of research and new avenues of treatment,” said Pai. “For patients who have tried the medications that are available, it is important to be able to tell them that we have something new we can offer.”
Centralized support for clinical trials
At the symposium, physicians learned more about the ways the CTP supports physicians across KPNC and the goals of the ACT. They were also able to connect with other physicians who are interested in increasing the number of clinical trials available to KPNC members.
“Over the past few years, we have created an infrastructure to support an ever-expanding number of clinical trials by TPMG physicians,” said Mirmirani. “We have digital applications, we have processes for evaluating feasibility, and we have researchers and services available to help a doctor put an idea for a clinical trial into an actual KPNC study.”
KPNC is currently supporting 179 active clinical trials that include about 3,500 members across diverse therapeutic areas. “Many of our researchers and clinical trial investigators are among the highest enrollers in the multi-site trials we take part in,” said Chen. “Bringing more physicians into our clinical trials program will allow us to expand our reach even more.”
Pai, for one, is ready. “Knowing how many people are involved with the CTP, and all the support they can offer, makes me feel much better equipped to initiate or have us join a clinical trial. I would encourage other physicians to take part in this training,” she said. “We are all going to have to work in collaboration to bring these studies to our patients.”
TPMG physicians can learn more about the Symposium and how to join the network of CTP researchers on the internal CTP Academy of Clinical Trialists website.
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