# Joseph M. Unger

Source: https://onco.cc/people/joseph-unger/  
OnCo record `joseph-unger` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Biostatistician who showed most patients are excluded from trials by structural barriers, not by unwillingness to take part.

## Summary

Joseph Unger led the systematic review and meta-analysis showing that more than half of cancer patients cannot enrol in trials because none is available locally or they fail eligibility, and that when offered, more than half agree to participate regardless of race, reframing under-representation as a structural problem. His SWOG analyses have quantified the survival benefits of trial participation and the effects of Medicaid expansion.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: trials; disparities; biostatistics
- Role: Associate Professor, Public Health Sciences and SWOG Statistics and Data Management Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
- Specialisms: Trial participation and access; Health disparities; Biostatistics; Cooperative-group trials

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Unger%20JM%5BAuthor%5D%20clinical%20trial%20participation

## Connected records

- institutions: [Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/fred-hutch/)
- key papers: [Unger: most patients never get the chance to join a cancer trial, and when offered, half say yes](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-unger-trial-participation-barriers-jnci-2019/)

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