Through the Cancer Care Program's new collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, public cooperative clinical trials in oncology began in the fall of 2009.

View Currently Available Clinical Trials here.

Clinical trials are research studies that test new treatments in people with cancer. Clinical trials test many types of treatment such as new drugs, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, new combinations of treatments or new methods such as gene therapy.

Clinical research progresses in an orderly series of steps called phases. This permits researchers to ask and answer questions that result in reliable information about the drug and protects patients. Additional patient protections are used, including defined protocols stipulating what the study will do, how and why. Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight is used to ensure patient rights are protected and that participation is voluntary. Data Safety Monitoring Boards are also used for certain trial phases.

Clinical trials offer a number of important benefits to patients, physicians and the hospital. An estimated 70% of patients express willingness to participate in trials, and 98% of trial participants report feeling satisfied or very satisfied with their participation.  Physicians have an opportunity to be involved in cutting-edge research while patients are able to access medications and treatments that may not otherwise be available.

To learn more about clinical trial opportunities at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, please contact Clinical Trials Coordinator Jennifer Higgins, Ph.D., at (413) 582-4969 or jennifer_higgins@cooley-dickinson.org.

Clinical Trials Team Members

George Bowers, M.D., Medical Oncologist/ Hematologist
Principal Investigator

Lindsay Rockwell, D.O., Medical Oncologist/Hematologist
Sub-investigator

Linda Bornstein, M.D., Radiation Oncologist
Sub-investigator

Lanceford Chong, M.D., Radiation Oncologist
Sub-investigator

Jennifer Higgins, Ph.D., Clinical Trials Coordinator
Dr. Higgins' research and policy career spans nearly 20 years. In 2003, she received her doctorate from the Gerontology Ph.D. Program at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Higgins has published several articles on clinical trial patient recruitment while working in the field of clinical research. She joined the CDH Quality Improvement Department in 2009.