Hoosier Cancer Research Network, a nonprofit cancer research organization based in Indianapolis, recently welcomed Indiana University School of Medicine research nurse Alesha Arnold, RN, as a member of its Board of Directors.

Arnold joined the IU School of Medicine in 2008 and supports the Clinical Trials Office at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to that she worked at IU Health Methodist Hospital for the cardiovascular medicine unit. She also worked in pediatrics and for a local pharmaceutical company, where she worked in the product safety division and eventually in research. Additionally, Arnold is a member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA).

“Alesha brings a wealth of clinical research experience to the board, having interacted directly with patients about the objectives of cancer studies that they may be eligible for,” said Christopher A. Fausel, PharmD, MHA, BCOP, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Hoosier Cancer Research Network. “Her perspective will help our leadership team consider new approaches to our research development and operations.”

Arnold, a graduate of Indiana University, said she is passionate about the goal of advancing cancer research, education, and patient advocacy.

“The primary reason I decided to join the Board of Directors for Hoosier Cancer Research Network is to meaningfully contribute ideas, experiences, and viewpoints to help serve the mission of HCRN,” Arnold said. “I can contribute and give a perspective from being a health care provider, a nurse, a patient, and someone who has been involved in the health care profession for more than 20 years.”

Being a research nurse, a minority, and a patient recently diagnosed with cancer, she feels she can bring both her knowledge and experience to the boardroom to build new strategies to increase study participation from minorities across network sites and provide insight into how HCRN can activate trials more quickly and work smarter with study sites. She is often the person in the room with the patient to help them understand a clinical study that is being presented to them.

“I think it’s very important that patients know that participating in a trial is completely voluntary,” Arnold said, “and if they do decide to participate, their efforts may help with future research studies and drug development, and hopefully make improvements in people’s health.”

She also places a high importance on building trust.

“Patients participate in studies because they have grown to trust their health care provider or their health care team,” Arnold said. “Once you trust your providers and your team, you are more willing to help. People who participate in clinical trials typically participate for the good of helping. They want to give back and make things better for their children or their children’s children. We want to convey that the development of new therapies may help ease side effects, prolong life, and improve overall quality of life.”

While fear may be a reason some patients choose not to participate in clinical trials, Arnold said work commitments, childcare, and transportation may also hinder some patients from participating. Connecting people to resources and considering how many days a week a patient may need to come in may make a big difference in whether they choose to participate in one study or another or not at all.

“If you depend on public transportation to get to and from your appointments, or if you have work commitments or child care issues, those are some reasons patients won’t participate in studies,” she said. “If your visit may be more intense and you have to take off work to do them, would you want to do the standard of care, which is three days a week or the study that’s five days a week? Sometimes that makes a huge difference.”

For Arnold, oncology research is personal. She has a family history of cancer diagnoses, where she experienced loss of several family members to lung and breast cancers, including her mother, sister, a grandparent, and extended family.

“Very recently, I too, was diagnosed with lung cancer,” Arnold said. “Having a first-hand experience with cancer from my own personal diagnosis gave me a different understanding of what oncology patients go through. I’m able to empathize more directly with them and know what it’s like to go through the scans and the testing, and the anxiety that’s involved. It’s a different level of understanding of what patients go through.”

Through additional testing, Arnold confirmed that she and her family have a germline mutation that predisposes them to lung cancer, which provides their family one more reason to get screened.

Arnold said her experience as a research nurse has been life-changing.

“Not only do I get to instill the love that I have for nursing, as well as my love for research, but I have added oncology to that as well,” Arnold said. “I look back at my family history, with having lost my mother and multiple family members to different types of cancers, and oncology research nursing is a good fit because I’m very passionate about it and it is something that means a lot to me.”

As a positive, energetic, and goal-oriented individual, Arnold said that she finds strength through her deep faith in God and support of family, friends, and colleagues.

“I balance it all through being able to rely on those people,” she said. “Everyone has been very, very supportive of me during this journey and I appreciate that.”

Cyndi Burkhardt, RN, executive director for HCRN, said Arnold brings a unique perspective to the board as an oncology research nurse and as a cancer patient.

“Alesha’s energy and passion for oncology research is contagious,” Burkhardt said. “She is committed to improving how cancer research is conducted and in how we could better support cancer patients. I’m grateful to have her insight.”

About Hoosier Cancer Research Network:

Hoosier Cancer Research Network (formerly known as Hoosier Oncology Group) conducts innovative cancer research in collaboration with academic and community physicians and scientists across the United States. The organization provides comprehensive clinical trial management and support, from conception through publication. Created in 1984 as a program of the Walther Cancer Institute, Hoosier Cancer Research Network became an independent nonprofit clinical research organization in 2007. Since its founding, Hoosier Cancer Research Network has conducted more than 230 trials in a variety of cancer types and supportive care, resulting in more than 350 publications. More than 9,000 subjects have participated in Hoosier Cancer Research Network clinical trials.