Cancer Clinical Trials in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

Across the 230 trials behind FDA cancer drug approvals from 2008 to 2018, Black patients were 3.1% of participants, and only 38.2% of those trials even reported how many Black patients they enrolled. A second analysis found Black patients were 2.9% of participants in drug-company trials and 9.0% in trials run by SWOG, a National Cancer Institute research network, while making up 12.1% of people in the United States with cancer.

The gap is not about willingness. A review of 35 U.S. studies found that when patients were actually offered a trial, 58.4% of Black patients enrolled, in line with the 55.0% rate across everyone who was offered one. The researchers point to access to trials and narrow eligibility rules as the barriers to fix. In practice that means the most important step is making sure someone checks whether a trial fits you.

We counted every interventional cancer study on ClinicalTrials.gov on October 29, 2026 that was recruiting and had at least one site in the state that was itself recruiting:

• New York: 1,532 studies
• New Jersey: 722 studies
• Connecticut: 431 studies
• All three states together: 1,818 different studies (a study can enroll in more than one state, so the state counts add up to more than this)

For context, the same search found 5,681 recruiting studies with U.S. sites. In New York, Manhattan sites appear most often, followed by Commack and Uniondale on Long Island, the Bronx, and Harrison in Westchester.

These counts include every study that lists cancer as a condition, so they cover screening, prevention and supportive-care studies as well as treatment trials.

The National Cancer Institute designates cancer centers that meet its research standards. Nine in the tri-state area see patients. They are listed here by state, in alphabetical order:

• Connecticut: Yale Cancer Center, New Haven
• New Jersey: Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick
• New York: Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, Manhattan; Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, Manhattan; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Manhattan; Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center, Bronx; Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center, Manhattan; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo; Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester

A tenth, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center, does laboratory research and does not treat patients. Trials also run at community hospitals and practices, so a hospital that is not on this list may still have a trial that fits you.

If you need a doctor first, our New York City care page lists Black doctors and community health centers by borough.

NCI's Cancer Information Service will run a trial search for you at no cost. Call 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) and choose option 2, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time. A specialist can search while you talk, or take your details, run the search afterward and send you the results. Specialists speak English and Spanish. You can also use live chat on cancer.gov or email NCIinfo@nih.gov.

To search on your own, NCI's trial search shows trials within 100 miles of a ZIP code. No single list has every trial: ClinicalTrials.gov also includes company-run trials that may not be on NCI's list. NCI also notes that some doctors may not know about a trial that could fit you. If yours has not brought trials up, getting a second opinion is reasonable.

In most trials the sponsor pays for the research itself, such as the study drug and tests done only for the study. Your insurance is billed for the routine care you would get anyway, like office visits and standard scans.

Federal law says most health plans may not deny you a qualifying trial, may not drop or limit coverage of your routine care because you joined, and may not treat you differently for taking part. It covers phase I to IV trials for the prevention, detection or treatment of cancer or another life-threatening condition that are federally funded or approved, or run under FDA oversight. Your plan can require you to use an in-network trial site if one takes part, but the rule applies even when the trial is in another state. The study drug itself and tests done only to collect research data are not routine costs.

Connecticut adds its own law: individual and group policies must cover routine patient care costs in qualifying trials, including hospital care at an out-of-network facility when treatment is not available in network and the sponsor does not pay for it. Cancer prevention trials qualify only if they are phase III, multi-site and test a treatment.

New York gives you the right to an external appeal when a plan denies a clinical trial you are eligible for as experimental. We did not find a separate New York or New Jersey law requiring routine-cost coverage, so in those states the federal rule is what protects you.

Since January 1, 2022, federal law has required Medicaid to cover routine patient costs in qualifying clinical trials, in any phase, for any serious or life-threatening condition. The coverage decision must be made within 72 hours. Federal guidance says a state may not deny coverage because the trial is out of state or because the trial doctor is outside your Medicaid managed care plan's network. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have all added the benefit to their Medicaid programs.

If you have Medicare, it may pay some costs of trials of new ways to diagnose or treat cancer. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) for details.

Travel, lodging and child or elder care are not routine care, but some trials help with them, so ask the research team. If a claim is denied, NCI suggests calling your plan's billing office, following its appeal steps and asking your doctor to contact the plan's medical director.

• Before you join, the research team must explain the study's purpose, what will happen, and its risks and possible benefits.
• The consent form must say that taking part is voluntary and that you can stop at any time without a penalty or losing benefits you are entitled to.
• It must also tell you whom to contact with questions about the research and about your rights.
• Signing the form does not lock you in. You can leave the study at any time.
• An institutional review board checks the study plan before anyone enrolls, and it can change or stop a trial.

• What is being tested, and what treatment would I get if I don't join?
• How often will I need to come in, and for how long?
• What will my insurance be billed for, and what does the study pay for?
• Can I keep seeing my own oncologist during the trial?
• Is there help with travel, parking or child care?
• Whom do I call with questions at night or on weekends?