SPEAKER_01 0:00

FOIA Health News podcast is here with a man that I had such a great time researching, and I'm very excited to chat with because I think you are a modern day like hero and really talking about some of the initiatives that you're working on. Dr. Patel, thank you so much for being here on this podcast. I'm excited to learn more about your No One Left Alone initiative and really talk about why it was important for you to create this and just highlight why it was important to be part of the Cancer Care Equity Summit.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

So, Queen, thank you for asking me to join on this podcast. I'm incredibly honored to be part of this, you know, broadcast. Why I started NOLA program and what made me do what I'm doing today. So uh I'm exposing my age. I turned 60 about two years back. And it's about time for me to look into the last quarter of life. You know, I chased publicity, I chased wealth, and I realized that there is something else that I have not done right, which is giving back to the society from what I kind of, you know, prospered. So when I saw the uh data on the disparities in the cancer care, it broke my heart. When I saw that one in three cancer deaths is preventable in America, I was completely moved and shaken. And I felt that my leading the community oncology alliance as a president was almost like a call from somewhere to open up my philanthropy. So, not relying or depending on government to do everything for every human being, I thought I can start something in my own clinic under the title of No One Left Alone. So, me and my partners, we decided to fund a program together to ensure that any patient who walked into our clinic, whether they could pay or not, what color they are in, should never feel that they have to worry about walking the clinic because of financial or social anxieties. And that's the reason why I started my whole program.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

That's so important. And I like that it's what the initiative is is literally in the name. Because in in when people are facing such a daunting, uh-huh, right, daunting experience such as cancer or some major health challenge, it can feel like a very lonely experience and no one understands them. And it's important to know that this is something that you you work in the field, you understand how people can really walk into a hospital room feeling that angst and creating this initiative to support them. It's incredibly important.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yeah, and that I'm I'm glad you're hitting the nail on the right spot because cancer treatment requires an ecosystem, and ecosystem includes my office, my nurses, my partners, my staff, patients, their loved ones. If we do not build an ecosystem, uh we have realized that the loneliness is one of the risk factors for higher complications and mortality in patients with advanced disease. So again, building up an ecosystem allows us to have that sense of assurance. And one more thing I'm learning, Queen, and I'm kind of diverging from what we're talking about, is the most important thing that we can give back to human beings is a time. We never value the time in all the value-based care model. People talk about cost saving, but what about like giving extra four weeks or extra four months to the human being that they can spend with their grandchildren, that they can be with them. So realizing the value of all of this, I feel that, you know, rather than fighting cancer disease alone, if we build an ecosystem under no one left alone, we felt we would do our duty better.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

And something you said earlier struck me that one in three is preventable in this country.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

2020 American Ocean of Cancer Research Report said that 34% of all cancer deaths are preventable if we did not have disparities.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Let's talk about the disparities. Okay. Let's talk, and this is the term I've learned social determinants of health.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

And I would love to spend some time talking about that and why that plays such a role in that statistic, being as grueling as it is when you hear it.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Absolutely. So when we dive deep down into the causes of disparities, social determinants of health factor are quite a significant role. Place where you're born, place where you live, food that you eat, water that you drink, access to primary care, access to utilities as well. All of these factors are important in fighting and battling the disease. For example, if a person does not have money to pay for the utility and if they close their house in the winter time, it's likely that they may be breathing more of a carbon monoxide and that may have an adverse impact that compounds the outcome. There was an interesting paper published in I think 2021 Cancer Journal, February or March, which showed that patients with three or four more adverse social determinants of health have worse prognosis, including the risk of death. So, and these are easy problems to solve. If somebody's food insecurity, you can direct them to the food banks. If someone needs utility assistance, virtually all utilities in the country have some sort of program for cancer patients. If patient is without shelter, there are so many shelters that we can find ways to help people. So what we are trying to do is understand the health-related social needs by collecting the data on SDOH. And we partner with multiple local entities that we address them as much as we can within our control.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Thank you. And I'm glad that you are you're mentioning that that there are so many factors, even outside someone's control, but just by the zip code that they're in, it impacts how exposed they are or possibility of having cancer. And so thank you for using your platform to really highlight that that initiative. One thing that we've talked a lot about has been clinical trials, right? Throughout this, for throughout the Cancer Care Summit that NMFQF and FQ has been hosting. And it's important to understand why clinical trials help move health innovations forward. Can you talk about why diversity in clinical trials is important and why people should try to be part of those if they have the chance?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Absolutely. Biologically, we all are different. My body, male, female, you know, uh African Americans, Asian Americans, uh Caucasians, you know, everybody has a different biological makeup. And drugs work differently in some of the situations. For example, you know, drug called trastozumab has a much higher risk of heart toxicity in black women compared to Caucasians. And these facts are not realized until late in the game because if you do not have enough participation of the minority patient population in a clinical trial, then you don't know how the drugs are going to act. You know, the there's something called pharmacogenomics. We metabolize drugs differently as well. So it's very, very important to have the appropriate representation of ethnic minorities in clinical trial to identify dosing schedule, identify toxicity, and see if the drugs are safe and effective in all the population. And I go a step beyond that as well. You know, I mentioned in my presentation the genomic data. So because we are all made of different kinds of you know constitution, our genomic uh data should also be part of the you know addressing disparities.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Thank you. Well, thank you so much for making time to be here. Thank you for using a platform for good, as I said. And just thank you for using the you said the latter part of your life. Yeah, the legacy.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

I call it the last quarter, the last medicine, the last mile, and in my last breath.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Oh that's a word. That's a word, but thank you for using for good and thank you for highlighting these important initiatives. And we're excited to see you take take over the world in the last quarter and leave a and leave a really amazing legacy. Thank you so much for that. Thank you very much. Thank you.