The UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) joined the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) as a full member in November 2002. This is our first U10 member application. During the past 3 years and entirely prior to becoming a full SWOG member, MDACC averaged 51 accruals to SWOG therapy studies per year. Our SWOG Program will integrate many elements of MDACCs comprehensive multidisciplinary resources, including 16 specialized Care Centers, where most MDACC patients are treated as outpatients in a multidisciplinary, multimodality team approach. MDACC has 895 cancer research faculty, including 536 clinical faculty. In 2001, MDACC cared for 62,600 cancer patients, of whom 16,144 were newly diagnosed and 3,500 were enrolled in therapeutic protocols. The structure for coordinating SWOG studies includes the Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator, Head CRA, SWOG Program Steering Committee, and leaders of each disease-site program (medical oncologists, radiotherapists, surgeons). Every MDACC-SWOG Program disease-site leader is a MDACC department chair sitting on the Executive Council of the Division of Cancer Medicine headed by Dr. Waun Ki Hong, who enthusiastically supports SWOG therapy/accrual activities within MDACC. Substantial MDACC administrative contributions to SWOG in the past 6 years include Chair, Cancer Control Research Committee and member, SWOG Executive Committee/Scientific Advisory Board (Dr. Lippman); Chair, Gastrointestinal Committee (Dr. Abbruzzese); Co-Chair, Brain Committee (Dr. Sawaya); Vice Chair, Lung Developmental Therapeutics Committee (Dr. Herbst); Chair, Testis Subcommittee (Dr. Logothetis); and Vice Chair, Sarcoma (Special Populations) Committee (Dr. Bleyer). At least 21 MDACC faculty are official members of SWOG and contribute actively to several SWOG committees on a regular basis (e.g., the Gastrointestinal, Brain, Lung, H & N, and Sarcoma committees). Dr. EI-Naggar will head the SWOG H&N Tumor Biology and Correlative Science Subcommittee. Dr. P. Pisters is a consultant for the SWOG Sarcoma Specimen Board. At least 11 MDACC faculty provided scientific leadership as Study Coordinators in 17 SWOG-coordinated protocols (including 3 in development) and co-authored 18 SWOG papers (since 2000). MDACC will apply its historical strengths in developing innovative Phase I, II studies within the SWOG setting. Phase III trials are highly complex and difficult for any single institution to conduct alone, and MDACC looks forward to leading some and joining other SWOG efforts to test novel approaches in Phase Ill, standard-of-care-altering trials.
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