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Describes barriers and suggests improvements for researcher-advocate partnerships in cancer research, indicating a need for better collaboration.
People who have experienced cancer are integral partners in the research process and improving standard-of-care treatments. Advocates contribute insights from lived experience that help researchers identify impactful scientific priorities, improve study design, and enhance clinical trial participation. Although programs have been established to connect scientists and advocates to enhance discovery, translational, and clinical research, challenges remain that hinder engagement and sustained partnerships. Here, we describe prevalent barriers and provide suggestions to improve bidirectional communication and collaboration, because strengthening researcher-advocate partnerships promotes impactful, inclusive, and patient-centered cancer research.
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Gitto et al. (2026) studied this question.
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