Memorial Sloan Kettering Clinical Trials

Memorial Sloan Kettering clinical trials are now available for Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute patients.

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Clinical trials, the research studies that evaluate new treatments, give volunteers a chance to receive the most advanced treatment before it's available to the general public. It's an opportunity to  help yourself and ensure that future generations receive the most effective, and safest, treatment possible.

As part of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute’s pioneering membership in the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance, an increasing number of MSK’s leading-edge cancer clinical trials and protocols are now being offered to cancer patients who receive care within the Institute.

That means promising and potentially groundbreaking advances in cancer research and treatment are being made available to patients without requiring them to go to New York City, where MSK is located and where previously patients had to travel to gain access to MSK’s world-renowned bank of trials and protocols.

Cancer Clinical Trial Imagery

“Our goal is to add to our existing portfolio of studies and to offer a comprehensive array of clinical trials for patients with common and uncommon cancers treated at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute,” said Ellen Dornelas, PhD, Director of the Cancer Clinical Research Office.


The rollout of MSK clinical trials to patients within Hartford HealthCare is a cornerstone the Institute’s membership in the Alliance. As of July 2016, the Institute had made MSK-originated clinical trials and research protocols available to patients who are being cared at any of the five cancer centers that make up the Cancer Institute – Hartford Hospital, Backus Hospital, Windham Hospital, The Hospital of Central Connecticut and MidState Medical Center. Additional trials and studies are expected to be opened to patients over the next several months.

So far, MSK trials have been opened to patients for the treatment of a variety of cancer types, including breast cancer, bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer, as well as multiple myeloma. Upcoming studies are expected to be opened for patients with colorectal and lung cancer as well as Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. An increasing number of the studies and trials are being made available at sites across the Institute.

Among the newly opened research studies is a genomic sequencing study sponsored by both the Institute and MSK which aims to determine the frequency of “actionable” oncogenic mutations in patients with advanced solid or hematologic tumors being evaluated for a therapeutic protocol. Whole genome sequencing for cancer has undergone an evolution and with every passing year, there are an increasing number of somatic mutations that are linked to specific tumor types.

The MSK trials are being made available in addition to a wide array of promising trials and research protocols now being offered to patients as part of the Institute’s Cancer Clinical Research Office, which are conducted by physicians and research specialists at the various cancer centers within the Institute.


To learn more about our research programs, call the Research Line at 860.972.4700.

Current Clinical Trials