NRG Oncology (NRG), a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group focused on improving outcomes for adults with cancer through multi-center clinical research, recently announced the creation of a new Sarcoma Subcommittee, as well as a new Vice-Chair for the group’s Imaging Committee.
NRG established the Sarcoma Subcommittee under the umbrella of the Developmental Therapeutics Committee within the organization. The Sarcoma Subcommittee will be focused on the following goals: building a more robust sarcoma program in NRG’s research portfolio; serve as a resource for NRG investigators; collaborate closely with the Children’s Oncology Group in the development of protocols for adolescent young adult (AYA) patients; and, to collaborate closely with counterparts in the other NCTN adult groups to promote sarcoma research.
Dian Wang, MD, PhD, FASTRO, was appointed as Chair of the NRG Sarcoma Subcommittee. Dr. Wang is a professor of Radiation Oncology at Rush University Medical Center with a primary focus in radiation therapy for sarcoma and genitourinary cancers. He has led numerous national cooperative trials in radiotherapy and/or in combination of new targeted agents of soft tissue sarcoma. Previously, Dr. Wang served as Chair of the NRG Sarcoma Working Group and led his institution to become the top accruing site to the NRG-DT001 study of neoadjuvant navetemadlin concurrent preoperative radiotherapy in wild-type p53 soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity and body wall. He is also an active member of the NRG Radiation Oncology Committee. Through one of NRG’s legacy groups, the RTOG (now RTOG Foundation), Dr. Wang led the development of a phase II trial on preoperative image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) for extremity soft tissue sarcoma. This trial was the first IGRT study within the RTOG portfolio and the trial was successfully completed in 2009. In addition to his many professional accomplishments, Dr. Wang has a passion for leveraging his experience in mentoring the future generations of researchers.
William Tseng, MD, was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Sarcoma Subcommittee. Dr. Tseng is the co-leader of the Sarcoma and Melanoma Disease Team and an associate professor of surgery at the City of Hope Medical Center. He has a vast amount of experience in translational sarcoma research and has led several international, multicenter sarcoma collaborations that have resulted in clinically impactful findings and updated consensus management guidelines. Dr. Tseng also brings the advocacy perspective to the research realm as he previously served on the Board of Directors for Sarcoma Alliance, providing him with a unique understanding and approach to leveraging future sarcoma research and findings. Currently, Dr. Tseng also serves as his institution’s Principal Investigator (PI) on a major international multicenter phase 3 clinical study in retroperitoneal sarcoma. Additionally, he serves on the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Panel for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Brian. A Van Tine, MD, PhD, was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Sarcoma Subcommittee. Dr. Van Tine serves as the Director of Phase I Clinical Trials and the Sarcoma Program Director in the Division of Medical Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he is also a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics. A nationally recognized clinical trialist, Dr. Van Tine has served as principal investigator on numerous investigator-initiated, cooperative group, and industry-sponsored trials focused on novel therapeutic strategies for sarcoma, including first-in-human and early-phase studies. He brings extensive expertise in sarcoma translational research, with a particular emphasis on the adolescent and young adult population. At NRG Oncology, Dr. Van Tine has been a long-standing and active member of the Sarcoma Working Group, collaborating closely with Subcommittee Chair Dr. Wang. In addition to his contributions at NRG, Dr. Van Tine is the current Vice-Chair of the Alliance Experimental Therapeutics and Rare Tumor Committee and previously served as Co-Chair of the Alliance Sarcoma Working Group. He also plays a national leadership role within the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration, where he helps guide the development and implementation of multi-center clinical trials. His leadership, combined with his broad experience in clinical trial development and execution, positions him well to support the growth and impact of the NRG Sarcoma research portfolio.
In addition to the new subcommittee, NRG also selected a new Vice-Chair for the NRG Imaging Committee. The NRG Imaging Committee is responsible for enhancing the use of imaging in clinical trials, both ensuring that standard imaging is used optimally when informing trial endpoints as well as potentially evaluating novel imaging in the context of trials for the group.
Clifton (Dave) Fuller, MD, PhD, was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Imaging Committee. Dr. Fuller is a professor of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has dedicated his career to advancing the use of imagining in cancer treatment and research through his experience in imaging science, clinical trials ,and multidisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Fuller has particular expertise in with MR-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) and lead the initial U.S. treatment using the Elekta/Phillips Unity MR-LinAc platform and developed head and neck-specific imaging sequences, which allow adaptive MRgRT workflows. Dr. Fuller is active in various scientific positions and appointments including a standing study section member of the National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review/Special Grants Review Committee, a member of the Data Science Institute Radiation Oncology Committee for the American College of Radiology, and a member of the NCI Radiation Research Program Quantitative Imaging in Radiation Therapy Interest Group. In addition to his many professional achievements, Dr. Fuller has a passion for engaging and educating the next generation of imaging scientists.
NRG looks forward to the continued advances of the group’s research through the leadership and guidance of these individuals in their new roles as well as the efforts that will stem from the new subcommittee.
Current NRG Oncology openings for leadership and committee applications can be found on the website at www.NRGOncology.org/Current-Openings
About NRG Oncology
NRG Oncology conducts practice-changing, multi-institutional clinical and translational research to improve the lives of patients with cancer. Founded in 2012, NRG Oncology is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit corporation that integrates the research of the legacy National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) programs. The research network seeks to carry out clinical trials with emphases on gender-specific malignancies, including gynecologic, breast, and prostate cancers, and on localized or locally advanced cancers of all types. NRG Oncology’s extensive research organization comprises multidisciplinary investigators, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, physicists, pathologists, and statisticians, and encompasses more than 1,300 research sites located world-wide with predominance in the United States and Canada. NRG Oncology is supported primarily through grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is one of five research groups in the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network. www.nrgoncology.org