ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A local breast cancer survivor is hoping to break down barriers when it comes to increasing diversity in medical trials.
In 2022, Javonne Williams was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer.
After undergoing a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, Williams is now cancer-free.
Her journey, however, continues as she participates in a 10-year clinical trial aimed at preventing cancer recurrence.
Williams’ decision to join the trial was not without hesitation.
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“Me being an African American woman, I’ve heard stories about trials from my ancestors, you know, from the Tuskegee trials and all of that,” Williams said. “So it already had a bad connotation on me to be a part because I never wanted to be a specimen or a lab rat.”
Her trust in the trial grew through her relationship with Dr. Wassim Mchayleh, the medical director of breast oncology at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute.
“With Dr. Mchayleh, I’ve already been with him for three years,” Williams said. “So immediately as I’m going through the clinical trial, my trust became more and more and more because of us going and building our relationships.”
Mchayleh said he understands why people may be scared to participate in clinical trials.
“They’re scared of failures,” Mchayleh said. “So this is where my role is to protect. My role is to explain, not to pressure them, to let them take time, go talk to their families.”
But Mchayleh said it’s not just about increasing diversity in medical trials.
“Sometimes cancer biology is different in different ethnic groups,” Mchayleh said. “So you want to make sure, you know, every group is represented in the trial and to make sure there is no differences in efficacy or toxicities when you’re testing new treatments in cancer, and particularly in breast cancer.”
Now, Williams is on a mission to educate others about the importance of participating in medical trials.
“There is such a need for diversity in these clinical trials,” Williams said. “They need to know the medicine — how it responds to senior women, younger women, African American women, other type of women. We need that data and if we don’t have people to participate, we can never collect it.”
To learn more about Williams’ story, click here.
