Abramson Cancer Center Lead Academic Participating Sites (LAPS)

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) has been highly engaged in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) for many years and has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the mission of the NCTN. The ACC has fostered an extensive cooperative group membership with many investigators serving in group or NCI committee leadership roles (44 group committee chair positions, 34 NCI committee roles, 16 study chairs, 14 study co-chairs, and nine study champions), robust accrual to NCTN clinical trials, leadership of large national trials, delivery of innovative ideas to the NCTN, and mentorship and career development of young investigators. The ACC has made a significant investment in the NCTN through the development of a centralized clinical research infrastructure focused exclusively on the conduct of NCTN trials—the NCTN@ACC. The leader of this enterprise and the PI of this LAPS grant is Dr. Jennifer Eads, Professor of Medicine in medical oncology. She has extensive experience in clinical trials, including through NCTN, for which she was named ECOG-ACRIN Investigator of the Year (2022). As Director of NCTN@ACC, Dr. Eads oversees the centralized NCTN administrative, operational, regulatory, auditing, monitoring activity, and financial aspects of the program. The NCTN@ACC is supported by five NCTN@ACC staff and three NCTN committees, all of which provide critical roles in the visionary and operational aspects of the program. Ensuring access to and representation of the communities in our catchment area in NCTN trials is a major effort across departments and the University of Pennsylvania Health System network of hospitals, led by Dr. Eads. The NCTN@ACC collaborates extensively with multiple research centers, scientific research programs, core facilities and the ACC Cancer Service Line to bring innovative ideas from these groups into the NCTN for further development of clinical trials. The NCTN@ACC is strongly committed to career development of young investigators through multiple mentoring mechanisms, including exposure to the NCTN where scientific and leadership contributions are encouraged. Specifically, NCTN@ACC aims to (1) lead an expansive NCTN clinical research program at the ACC through an efficient, centralized enterprise that enables rapid enrollment across the Penn network and the conduct of high-quality clinical research with a focus on outreach to the community; (2) drive exceptional leadership and innovation of NCTN clinical research at the national and institutional level; and (3) expand the ACC commitment to mentorship and career development of faculty and staff, as well as enrollment of populations across our catchment area including patients with rare cancers.