In late 2021, Dr. Trinh and colleagues received funding from Mass General Brigham’s United Against Racism campaign, which supports research into health inequities and seeks to build more equitable patient care across the MGB system. These funds helped create the Prostate Cancer Outreach Clinic (PCOC), which improves access to prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment for Black men in Massachusetts and provides insights into barriers to care and why men avoid medical care at academic medical centers like the Brigham and Mass General Hospital. Early insights from Dr. Trinh’s and Dr. Cole’s work informed the development of the clinic, which centers its work around proactive outreach and education initiatives. 

Since its inception, the clinic has seen over 250 patients. Dr. Trinh engages in direct community outreach at churches and community centers to encourage patients to get screened and visit the clinic. At the clinic, if a PSA test comes back with abnormal results, the information is sent to a community health worker, who works directly with the patient to ensure appropriate follow-up. Dr. Trinh was recently awarded a $1.5 million Health Disparity Award from the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program to explore the burden of transportation as a barrier to cancer treatment and whether providing ridesharing services is an effective means to reduce missed appointments.