) This application proposes Joan H. Schiller, M.D., for a K24 Mid-Career Investigator Award in Patient Oriented Research. Dr. Schiller is currently one of only two tenured women physicians in the University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine, and an accomplished medical oncologist with an active clinical and translational research program in lung cancer. Dr. Schiller is active in drug development in lung cancer, participating at all levels of clinical research, including Phase I, II, and III trials. In addition to running an active Phase II program at the UW and participating in the UWCCC Phase I program, she is co-chair of the Eastern Co- Operative Group (ECOG) Thoracic Committee, and chair of two ECOG multi- institutional Phase III studies. Dr. Schiller intends to use the release time from her heavy clinical and administrative responsibilities to expand her scope of clinical research in lung cancer, develop a mentoring program for young investigators, and to further develop her own mentoring and leadership skills.
Her specific aims within this award are (1) to draw upon the considerable campus-wide resources in basic and translational research at the UW, so as to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations and development of a UW clinical lung cancer research program that engages the participation of researchers from multiple disciplines; (2) to develop a mentoring program for residents and fellows for tobacco-related neoplasms and associated clinical research, (3) to support her activities in clinical research in lung cancer, and enhance her own development as an academic leader in the field of lung cancer, and (4) to foster the career development of women clinical scientists and leaders in academic medicine. In this application, Dr. Schiller demonstrates (a) her strong clinical research interest in lung cancer, and accomplishments in the field; (b) an outstanding basic science and clinical environment within the UW in which to conduct patient-oriented, translational research; (c) her unique position within the institution to nurture the careers of women junior investigators, and (d) the need for protected research time to continue these efforts.
