The overall objective of this proposal is to support the participation of the City of Hope National Medical Center (COH) in the investigational clinical trials of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). The COH, an NCI-designated Cancer Research Center, has provided strong support for the clinical research activities of SWOG over the past four years. SWOG members at COH have provided substantial scientific input into the development of new therapeutic programs for hematologic malignancies as well as all aspects of high-dose chemotherapy with bone marrow or stem cell support for the group; in addition, expertise in oncologic pharmacology, cytogenetics, immunotherapy, and gynecologic pathology and virology will continue to support pilot protocol development for SWOG as well as groupwide phase II and phase III studies and biological response modifier protocols. In addition, SWOG members from COH will participate heavily in research activities in oncologic surgery and cancer prevention. The most notable change in SWOG activities at COH over the past four years has been a marked increase in both the scientific and administrative leadership contributed by COH investigators to the SWOG clinical research endeavor. COH physicians and scientists now chair the Cytogenetics Discipline Committee, the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Committee, the Gynecology Committee s Tumor Biology and Pathology Subcommittees, and the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Breast Cancer Subcommittee. COH also now had three designated members on the SWOG Board of Governors, representing not only the parent institution but the Cytogenetics Discipline Committee and the stomatology activities of the Head and Neck Committee. In addition to these new leadership positions, the scientific productivity of COH investigators in SWOG has dramatically increased. At the time of the last competitive review of this proposal in 1992, 8 COH investigators had contributed one paper and four abstracts reporting SWOG clinical investigations; over the past four years, 13 COH investigators have published 18 papers and 14 abstracts describing SWOG research in high quality, peer-reviewed publications. Based upon the presence of a strong, multidisciplinary team of physicians in Pathology, Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, and Cancer Control as well as Medical Oncology and Hematology who are committed to the investigations pursued by SWOG, as well as an expanding network of CGOP affiliates serving an underserved minority population in Southern California, strong scientific leadership of and patient accrual to SWOG clinical trials can be predicted to continue over the coming funding cycle, and the innovative treatment concepts devised by SWOG and COH will become more widely available in this region.
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