In this episode, Aaron Gerds, MD, discusses his work on clinical trials and suggestions to improve the process, the impact of COVID on these trials and his involvement in ASH Clinical News.

• Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive :13
• About Gerds :17
• The interview 1:50
• I'd love to hear kind of your journey to becoming a physician and then really becoming this sub specialized hematologist. 3:25
• You work in clinical trials, and really in the infrastructure of how to implement and make clinical trials most effective for patients. So how did you get into that? And why do you feel like that's important? What do you do in that space that you feel is going to make a difference? 5:22
• Is there a way for us to fix the process of getting a clinical trial open and completed? 7:01
• Let's say you were king for a day, and you were able to disrupt the entire system and fix it. What would you do? 12:47
• How has COVID impacted what you've been doing in clinical trials and infrastructure? What are the things that have really been challenges? 16:08
• So how did you get involved in ASH Clinical News? What exactly is your role? And why do you think something like ASH clinical news is important? 25:58
• If somebody is interested in becoming that voice of getting accurate information out there, whether it's through ASH or through another forum, what do you suggest for them? What's the best way to get engaged and involved in that space? 29:56
• If somebody could only listen to the last minute of this conversation, what would you want them to take away? What are the key takeaways from today's conversation that you would want someone to remember? 34:33
• How to contact Dr. Gerds 36:05
• Thanks for listening 37:08

Aaron Gerds, MD, is assistant professor in medicine, specializing in hematology and medical oncology, at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and editor-in-chief of American Society of Hematology Clinical News.

We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter @HemOncToday and @ShikhaJainMD. Gerds can be reached on Twitter @AaronGerds.

Disclosures: Gerds reports no relevant financial disclosures. Jain reports she is a paid freelance writer for Lippincott.