Leaders Discuss JCERT’s Role in Premier Phase I Clinical Trial Office at The University of Kansas Cancer Center

Some 15 years ago, two friends playing tennis had an idea that eventually would lead to one of the most unique cancer clinical trial facilities in the country – right in Johnson County.

That idea – formulated by Senator Dick Bond and community leader and activist Mary Birch – was to bring education, research and economic growth to the area through a 1/8-cent sales tax. Despite being in the throes of a recession, voters passed the Johnson County Education Research Triangle (JCERT) tax in 2008. The only one of its kind in the nation, the JCERT tax supports endeavors at the KU Edwards Campus,K-State Olathe and the University of Kansas Clinical Research Center (CRC), which houses the KU Cancer Center and the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

On the KU Cancer Center’s recent Facebook Live series, Bench to Bedside, Dr. Roy Jensen, director of the KU Cancer Center, spoke with Birch and the CRC’s medical director, Dr. Tara Lin, about JCERT’s impact on the clinical trials office and how the CRC’s work is improving cancer research and patient outcomes.

The CRC conducts early-phase clinical trials and investigator-initiated trials, which are developed out of KU Cancer Center science and designed by its investigators.

“Many cancer center directors will tell you that one of the banes of their existence is the clinical trials office because it’s an endless money sink,” Jensen said. “Frankly, through the support we get from JCERT, it’s one of our brightest, shining lights because we have the capacity to have absolutely one of the best clinical research programs in the country.”

Today, the JCERT sales tax generates approximately $18 million each year. One-third of those funds support the KU Clinical Research Center.