It gives me great pleasure to announce the establishment of the Clinical Research Unit, a first at Aga Khan University in Nairobi. The Clinical Research Unit (CRU) is a core facility of the Experimental Therapeutics Program of Aga Khan University, Nairobi Cancer Centre. The CRU will be dedicated to cancer clinical trials and will set the stage for training of clinical investigators across the AKU East Africa campuses. Through our offering of novel clinical trials, we aim to attract patients from across East Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa. 

The motto of the CRU is "A drug called -TUMAINI". Tumaini is a Swahili word that means Hope. The AKU, N CRU is dedicated to providing hope to cancer patients. We are committed to ensure that they receive the best of oncologic care in the context of being part of a clinical trial.  Our clinical trials program is dedicated to the study of novel therapies in the management of cancer. The study of novel agents is something that has, to-date, been lacking in sub Saharan Africa (SSA).  The basis for this aspiration is that the outcome (response) and effect (toxicity) of anti-cancer agents may be variable in genetically disparate populations given the impact of pharmacogenomics on drug metabolism and kinetics, both of which can potentially impact response and toxicity.  There are numerous examples that underscore this premise and inform our desire to study novel anti-cancer agents in the SSA context in order to determine their utility in the African host.

We would like our patients and referring colleagues to see the Clinical Research Program as a close-to-home destination for access to novel therapeutic options. 

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