Making the Patient Experience Better from the Inside Out
Welcome to the Innovation Lab, where patients and caregivers from our COLONTOWN colorectal cancer community put their experience and creativity to work for each other — and patients everywhere.
Precision Medicine: WHat CRC PATIENTS NEED TO KNOW
Steve Schwarze, our Director of Clinical Trials Programming and a stage IV patient, provides a down-to-earth look at the exciting new field of precision medicine in this video, part of our Precision Medicine Learning Center in COLONTOWN University.
CRC Education From the Inside OUt
Meet our new content development team! Together, they bring expertise in science writing, curriculum development, and researching CRC treatment options from the patient and caregiver perspectives.
Their first project: bringing the amazing resources from COLONTOWN’s CRC101 group to a Learning Center in COLONTOWN University. Stay tuned for a launch date later this year!
This program is funded by a grant from Bristol Myers Squibb.
CHemo Cheat Sheet
Deputy Mayor Julie Saliba Clauer makes sense of the alphabet soup with this chart breaking down the drug names, combination abbreviations, and jargon associated with the most common crc chemo regimens.
Second Opinion Project
This initiative provides assistance to stage iv colorectal cancer patients seeking second opinions and potentially life-saving treatment options. COLONTOWN member and caregiver Felix Lu created this project, which is supported by the Lu Family Fund.
Icing Protocol
Patients in COLONTOWN’s Live Wire neighborhood have developed a protocol to reduce cold-sensitivity for patients receiving chemo with oxaliplatin.
This project was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2020 meeting, and 2 clinical trials testing the protocol’s efficacy are currently underway.
COLONTOWNie Amber Stinson Demonstrates ICING in the CLINIC
Scan To Video
PALTOWN Board Member and COLONTOWNie Howard Brown has developed a partnership to produce a 3d video view of patient scans. The video is stored in the cloud, allowing secure access by both the patient and care teams, including tumor boards.
Take a look at these CT scans, from a stage iv metastatic cancer patient:
- Metastasis of colon cancer 7/17 to 9/17:
- No Evidence of Disease 9/19 to 12/19 (password Howard)
Your Cancer Profile
REthinking Clinical Trial Design
Scientific Director Manju George is collaborating with Principal Investigators on several colorectal cancer clinical trials to provide patient input from COLONTOWN members on important questions of study design. This initiative aims to create trials that work better for participants – an outcome that will improve options for all crc patients in time.
COLONTOWN University: Learning For LIfe
When our team of patient and caregiver faculty for our Training programs needed to go virtual due to COVID, we launched a new platform for all our education needs.
In addition to our Workshops, we are now hosting Learning Centers inspired by topics that COLONTOWN members discuss in the community.
Our first Center, Diagnostic and Surveillance Testing, features resources about biomarkers and crc, and a series of modules from major test providers, all created in a template developed by University staff to address the questions patients most want answered. Video chats with scientists and clinicians round out the offerings on the platform.
