E-Newsletter - Summer 2017

Meet nEw alliance LEADERS 

Jeffrey A. Sloan, PhD (Mayo Clinic), will lead the Alliance Methodology Working Group (aka Geek Squad). This working group will bring members of the Alliance Statistics and Data Center (SDC) together with key Alliance collaborators to discuss findings, evaluate scientific statistical methods and clinical study design, and focus on strategic planning and progress on methodological research related to clinical trial design and PRO/QOL assessments. Current key initiatives include Was It Worth It (WIWI), Quality-Adjusted Survival Effect Size (QASES), Missing Data Macro, Time to Toxicity (ToxT), Cross-walking, and GeneQol Consortium. The working is open to anyone who has an interest in statistical methodology, whether it’s related to clinical study design or PRO/QOL methodology. For more information, contact Dr. Sloan (jsloan@mayo.edu) or Jackie Lafky (lafky.jacqueline@mayo.edu). 

Amylou C. Dueck, PhD (Mayo Clinic), and Michelle J. Naughton, PhD, MPH (Ohio State University Comprehensive Cacner Center), will serve as new Co-Chairs of the Alliance Health Outcomes Committee, beginning August 1. They will succeed Ethan Basch, MD, and Jeffrey A. Sloan, PhD. Dr. Dueck is a leading expert in quality of life and patient-reported outcomes research. Together with Dr. Basch and NCI, she played a critical role in the development and validation of the NCI's Patient-Reported Outcomes Version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE), a tool that evaluates symptomatic treatment side effects in patients enrolled in cancer clinical trials. Dr. Naughton has received numerous grant awards and her research focuses on the impact of cancer and its treatments on the health-related quality of life and daily functioning of cancer populations. In addition, she previously served seven years on NCI's Symptom Management and Health-Related Quality of Life Steering Committee where Dr. Dueck is currently a member.

Konstantin H. Dragnev, MD (Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center) and James R. Marshall, PhD (Roswell Park Cancer Institute) will assume Co-Vice Chair positions on the Alliance Prevention Committee. Dr. Dragnev’s research and clinical interests focus on the prevention and treatment of lung cancer, especially through bidirectional translation from laboratory discoveries to mechanism-driven clinical trials. He leads many institutional clinical research initiatives at Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center, including 150 active and ongoing trials. Dr. Marshall’s research interests focus on the identification and testing of chemoprevention strategies in human populations; evaluating diet as a means of preventing breast cancer recurrence; epidemiologic analysis of predictors of genetic mutation in adenomatous polyps; familial colon cancer registries; and independent associations between diet and breast and endometrial cancers.

Jennifer Le-Rademacher, PhD (Mayo Clinic Cancer Center) has been assigned to work with the Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC. Dr. Le-Rademacher serves as a lead statistician for the Alliance Symptom Intervention, Cancer in the Elderly, and Prevention committees, and is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Oncology at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. Her research interests are in the design and analysis of cancer clinical trials and statistical methodology relevant to biomedical research. She is the lead faculty statistician for the dysproteinemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and myeloid disease oriented groups at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. She is also a lead statistician for the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Mayo Clinic.

Thomas Stinchcombe, MD, has been appointed as Chair of the Alliance Respiratory Committee. Dr. Stinchcombe is a Professor of Medicine at Duke University, where he was recently recruited to help lead clinical research in thoracic oncology at the Duke Cancer Institute. Prior to this, he led the thoracic oncology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was during his time at UNC that Dr. Stinchcombe began his highly productive association with the Alliance. He has replaced Everett Vokes, MD, of the University of Chicago, who this year completed a full 10-year term of office in this role. The committee has enjoyed exceptional leadership from Dr. Vokes, who created an intellectually stimulating environment and developed clinically and scientifically important trials.

Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center) has been appointed as Chair of the Alliance Immunotherapy Working Group. Dr. Mittendorf, along with an impressive team of colleagues, will explore ways to integrate this highly active area in cancer research within the Alliance. Members of the working group include W. Fraser Symmans, MB, ChB (MD Anderson Cancer Center), Michael T. Tetzlaff, MD, PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center), Jennifer  Wargo, MD, MMSc (MD Anderson Cancer Center), F. Stephen Hodi, Jr., MD (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) and Sandra Demaria, MD (Weill Cornell Medical College).

 

 

 

For other articles in the Summer issue of the Alliance E-News newsletter, see below.