In COLONTOWN, we often talk about getting our planes lined up on the runway. Knowing what options might be available and anticipating and preparing for what might be next. This is especially true in thinking about clinical trials. The trial landscape is broad and often difficult to navigate. Our team is here to help.
COLONTOWN University: Clinical Trials Basics
The clinical trials ecosystem can be hard to understand, and hard to navigate. In the Clinical Trials Basics, we help patients and caregivers understand how trials work, how to find clinical trials, and how to understand whether a trial might fit into their treatment plan.
This resource has been developed by the patients and caregivers of COLONTOWN for colorectal cancer patients and caregivers through COLONTOWN University, our publicly available educational resources. To learn more visit the Clinical Trials Basics page.
Searching Safari Workshop
The Searching Safari program is part of a growing portfolio of clinical trials resources, reflecting PALTOWN’s focus on patient education and empowerment. Developed by our Education team in response to the frustration and anxiety seen in COLONTOWN’s clinical trials groups, the program offers:
A four-week virtual workshop and on-demand e-learning course for COLONTOWN members
Support for stage IV patients interested in clinical trials but not yet in urgent need
A focus on building individualized clinical trials literacy
Practical tools to identify and assess trial options, with participants reporting an 80% improvement in how prepared they feel to find a clinical trial
This course has been the most helpful thing for us in these 5 years
I'm not scared of trials anymore
Thank you for... helping us with an incredibly complex and challenging avenue for those experiencing mCRC
Alanna Project
The Alanna Project was named in honor of its founder Alanna Gehringer. Its mission is to humanize the trial experience by collecting feedback from fellow COLONTOWN ‘Townies’. The Alanna Project spreadsheet catalogs details like treatment response, side effects, met location, mutations, and more. It’s just one tool COLONTOWN offers to help patients and caregivers navigate their CRC journey and we encourage visiting learn.colontown.org for further educational resources.
Please keep in mind the information listed in The Alanna Project is anecdotal. It is not a substitute for medical advice. Patents should always discuss all medical inquiries and decisions with their care team.
To respect the privacy of all Townies we ask that The Alanna Project is not shared outside COLONTOWN. All entries are posted with a unique anonymous patient ID and data remains confidential.
Trials Hub
PALTOWN’s Trials Hub is a centralized repository for resources about a selection of colorectal cancer clinical trials. The Hub provides COLONTOWN patients and caregivers access to information about trials by NCT number, trial or drug name and is aimed at saving patients and caregivers critical time by locating requested trial information in one centralized place.
The Hub includes trials with any of the following resources available and is for members only:
COLONTOWN member reports provided through the Alanna Project, a de-identified registry of patient trial experiences
DocTalks, conference reports, and/or analysis by COLONTOWN’s trials curation team
- Expanded trial information (beyond what is available in clinicaltrials.gov) provided by trial sponsor or PI
- Other publications in peer-reviewed journals or publications
2025 Program Sponsors
