This application seeks support for Pediatric Oncology Group activities by Southwestern Medical School. Since 1981 our institution has grown to become the Group's third or fourth largest member, among 40 participating institutions, with regard to patients enrolled on therapeutic studies. Moreover, investigators from our center have risen to positions of leadership on major Group committees, including the Executive Committee, New Agents and Pharmacology Committee, and Lymphoid Diseases Committee (Relapsed ALL Subcommittee). Investigators from Southwestern Medical School also have served and are serving as study coordinators of key Pediatric Oncology Group protocols, including the SIMAL-3 study for relapsed patients with ALL, the Group's second largest study in patient accrual. We are now proposing a major commitment of resources from our center to continue Pediatric Oncology Group research studies. This grant proposal describes the personnel and facilities in our center and its affiliate institution, Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, with which we aim to conduct Group activities. The past history of active participation in clinical cancer research within and separate from the Pediatric Oncology Group and our initial contributions to the Group during the past 3 years provide evidence of this commitment. Specifically, we aim to participate in Pediatric Oncology Group research activities by: 1) Actively enrolling as many patients as possible on Pediatric Oncology Group treatment and ancillary protocols, among the 130-140 new children with cancer seen each year at Southwestern Medical School and its affiliate institution; 2) collecting recording, and submitting all necessary data in a timely and organized fashion in order that our protocol entries continue to receive a high rate of evaluability; 3) making scientific contributions to the Pediatric Oncology Group by actively serving on key committees, as protocol coordinators, and as consultants to the Group's leaders in a variety of areas, particularly regarding new therapeutic approaches to ALL and development of Phase I and Phase II drug trials.
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