Clinical Research Office :: Patient Participation

Simmons Cancer Center Research Information: 214-648-7097

Within each of our clinical programs, the Simmons Cancer Center has a strong and outstanding research component.  The Simmons Cancer Center was created to promote new initiatives in cancer investigation and to facilitate the integration of clinical oncology with the world-class expertise in laboratory science at UT Southwestern.  This research role is coordinated through our Clinical Research Office.  Questions regarding cancer clinical research at UT Southwestern and its affiliated hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic facilities, may be directed to this office by calling 214-648-7097.

Participating in Cancer Clinical Research at Southwestern Medical Center

Your doctors in the Simmons Cancer Center may determine that you are eligible to participate in a clinical trial involving a promising investigational medication or other form of treatment.  A clinical trial is a research study.  Carefully conducted clinical trials are the fastest and safest way to find new treatments that work in people.  Clinical trials that are well-designed and well-executed are an excellent way for volunteers to:

• play an active role in their own health care;
• gain access to experimental drugs and devices before they are widely available;
• obtain expert medical care at leading health care facilities during the trial; and
• help others by contributing to medical research.

For patient volunteers, the benefits of clinical research may be evident on many levels.  The primary objective shared by clinicians and patients alike is that patients receive the treatment advances they need.  In addition, patient volunteers may benefit from close interaction with the investigator, who during the course of evaluation can educate the patient with regard to the nature and prognosis of his or her disease.

And patients may gain the satisfaction of knowing that they have provided profound benefit to the scientific community, giving clinicians yet another therapeutic option in the management of cancer and other human diseases.

To oversee the involvement and protection of study patients in research, UT Southwestern Medical Center's Institutional Review Board (IRB) is mandated by law to perform the oversight function.  It is the role of the IRB to assure that risks to patient volunteers are minimized and reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits, that there is informed consent, and that the rights and welfare of patients are maintained in other ways as well.

At Southwestern's Simmons Cancer Center, our research role provides the leading edge in the search for new and better treatments.  Clinical research depends upon the participation and dedicated cooperation of human subjects, both patients and healthy volunteers alike.

For more information on participating in cancer clinical research at Southwestern, patients and referring physicians are encouraged to contact the Cancer Clinical Research Office.