The University of Michigan has been participating as a fully funded member with the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) since January 1, 1980. We view SWOG as an important component of a large cancer research effort at our institution. We remain committed to the concept that multi-institutional collaboration is essential to the advancement of cancer treatment. Our goals as a member institution of SWOG remain the same as in years past, namely to make significant scientific, administrative and patient data contributions to the Group's effort to study and improve cancer therapy. We continue to believe in the cooperative group process which involves the collection of patient data, adopting uniform toxicity and response criteria, and conducting purposeful clinical trials as well as introducing the concept of merging """"""""SPORES"""""""" into the cooperative group mechanism. Cooperative groups have provided the only settings in which the sophisticated concepts of combined modality and adjuvant therapies could be properly investigated. The processes have also produced an improved understanding of the important relationships between prognostic factors, therapy and patient survival that could not have been gained otherwise. Our participation in SWOG is multidisciplinary with membership that includes hematologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, surgeons and various surgical subspecialties (in particular, urologic oncology, orthopedics, breast, otolaryngology, gynecology and thoracic), nurses and clinical research associates all involved in group activities which has strengthened with the recruitment of senior leadership, as well as talented junior faculty to complement an already strong base of clinical and basic researchers. Our participation in SWOG during the last three years has been characterized by a high level of data management and protocol compliance, significant administrative/scientific contributions and an increasing level of patient registration contributions. Registrations for the University of Michigan without affiliates for 2003-2005 is 68, 85, and 126, respectively. Given that the headquarters has moved to the University of Michigan, there is clear evidence of increased support for SWOG by our faculty.
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