UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System announced today a collaboration aimed at providing veterans with access to the latest therapeutic cancer clinical trials and state-of-the-art cancer care.
The Operation Mend Project to Enhance Cancer Care for Veterans will involve three UCLA entities: the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Ronald A. Katz Center for Collaborative Military Medicine and Operation Mend.
Veterans have a higher-than-normal risk for many types of cancer, but administrative and financial hurdles often block their access to clinical trials outside of the VA health care system where promising cancer treatments are being tested, said Dr. Fairooz Kabbinavar, a professor of hematology and oncology at UCLA, and a co-leader of the new program.
The two-year project will provide a streamlined and patient-friendly system enabling Los Angeles-area veterans to enroll in early phase cancer treatment trials being led by UCLA scientists, according to the university. It is the first time Southern California veterans will have access to the clinical trials directly through the local VA, and officials said it is the nation’s first program to bring experimental cancer-related treatments to veterans.
“We are gratified and excited that we will be able to extend new, novel and innovative cancer treatments to our veterans for many of the common cancers that they face, such as lung, kidney and prostate cancers,” said Dr. Dennis Slamon, director of clinical and translational research at the Jonsson Cancer Center and the program’s other co-leader.
As part of the partnership, the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and the Jonsson Cancer Center will provide doctors with state-of-the-art patient clinics, diagnostic procedures and laboratories. The VA system’s participation is being directed by Dr. Matthew Rettig, its chief of hematology and oncology, who also is a member of the Jonsson Cancer Center.
Funding and staffing for the project are being provided thanks to a donation through the Ronald A. Katz Center for Collaborative Military Medicine and Operation Mend, which provide reconstructive surgery and medical care to members of the military who have been wounded in battle or training.
Founded in 2007 by philanthropist Ronald A. Katz and his late wife, Maddie, UCLA’s Operation Mend is a part of the Katz Center, which coordinates the university’s research projects and support programs designed to help veterans and their families.
“We are delighted to support this innovative effort,” Katz said. “There are more than 21 million veterans living in the United States today, and nearly half of them are 65 years of age or older. However, there is no effective system currently available to provide them access to therapeutic cancer clinical trials, even when they have exhausted all forms of conventional therapy.”
The program’s leaders said they hope the initiative will serve as a model for other VA facilities.
“Perhaps the greatest gift we can give to veterans is hope, and it is critical that they play as active a role as is possible in their own health and treatment,” Rettig said.
