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WFBH Grant Will Expand Cancer Treatment Trials To Underserved Areas

DAVID FORD/WFDD

A new grant will allow Wake Forest Baptist Health to expand access to clinical trials for cancer patients in underserved areas. 

Health officials say that despite advances in cancer treatment, disparities in outcomes remain prevalent, especially for minority and rural populations.

That could change thanks to a $775,000 grant being given to Wake Forest Baptist's Comprehensive Cancer Center. The funding comes from the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, and is aimed at helping researchers reduce those disparities.

The money will allow the hospital to open an initial 17 clinical trials covering a spectrum of cancer types, including lung, breast, and leukemia.

Dr. Alexandra Thomas is a professor of hematology and oncology at Wake Forest Baptist. She says that as one of only three Comprehensive Cancer Centers in North Carolina, Wake is “uniquely positioned to reach underserved areas” in the Piedmont.

According to a news release, Wake Forest Baptist is one of only eight NCI-designated cancer centers in the U.S. to receive the award.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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