Gynecologic Cancers Research Program

Benbrook, Doris

Abstract

GYNECOLOGIC CANCERS PROGRAM ? ABSTRACT The goal of the Gynecologic Cancers (GC) program at the Stephenson Cancer Center (SCC) is to raise the standard of care and improve clinical outcomes for all women with gynecologic malignancies, with an emphasis on addressing problems relevant to Oklahoma, the SCC catchment area. Program members accomplish this goal by conducting transdisciplinary, team-based research that advances discovery of molecular mechanisms into early- and late-phase randomized trials.
The Specific Aims for the GC program are: (1) to discover and interrogate molecular mechanisms central to carcinogenesis; (2) to investigate mechanisms underlying cancer therapy response and resistance; and (3) to design and conduct early- and late-phase randomized clinical trials that advance novel discoveries and improve patient outcomes in the catchment area and nation. Highlights of the GC program include: 1) highly interactive basic discovery and clinical members focused on gynecologic cancers; 2) Specific Aims that organize these program members into focused translational teams, leading to multi-PI grants and an exceptional rate of intra-programmatic publications; 3) a gynecologic oncology clinical program that impacts the catchment area by providing multidisciplinary care and access to clinical trials (58% enrollment rate) for half the new GC cases in Oklahoma; 4) a large annotated biospecimen bank that supports GC discovery research; 5) active development of GC-focused investigator-initiated trials and high accrual of GC patients to early-phase novel treatment trials; and 6) national leadership in the design and conduct of practice-changing NCTN- and Industry-sponsored randomized GC trials. The GC program has 18 members, representing seven departments, four colleges and two institutions, which illustrates the transdisciplinary expertise among program members. The translational focus of the program is reflected in the balance of MD (9) and PhD (9) members. As of December 31, 2016, program members were awarded $3,865,290 in annual NCI and other peer-reviewed cancer-related support (direct cost). NCI funding ($3,181,558) accounts for 82.3% of the peer-reviewed funding, highlighting the program's cancer focus. Total annual GC program funding is $8,700,601 (direct cost). For the five-year reporting period (2012-2016), GC program members published 262 peer-reviewed articles, of which 34.4% included intra-programmatic, 11.8% included inter-programmatic, and 73.3% included inter-institutional collaborators. For 2016, inter-programmatic publications were 21.1%, highlighting the increasing number of collaborations underway with the Preclinical Translational Cancer Research (PTCR) and Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) programs.