Margaret Mooney, MD
Senior Investigator, Clinical Investigation Branch
National Cancer Institute
Related Link: http://www.nci.nih.gov/clinicaltrials
The National Cancer Institute has a large web site that gives a vast array of information on cancer in general, treatments, and also it's tied to a data base that would allow patients over the internet to review the trials that may be applicable to the type of disease that they have. And in addition to that, the American Cancer Society and patient advocacy groups all have web sites and are all happy to talk to patients as well as just provide all information on participation of clinical trials.
The first thing that I think that anyone should do is to talk to there physician. Let the physician know that they have an interest in participating in clinical trials. Then they can find whether there is an applicable trial in your area or nearby, and many clinical trials are run in the community and in community hospitals, and see if any of those are available and appropriate for that particular patient.