NRG Oncology adds new theranostics subcommittee to organization, new leadership members for CCDR and early phase trial oversight committees

(Press-News.org) 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 Theranostics Subcommittee, as well as two leadership role updates within the organization’s current committees.

NRG established the Theranostics Subcommittee under the Imaging Committee and Radiation Oncology Committee umbrellas within the organization as theranostics is a medical field that combines diagnostic imaging and therapeutic interventions. The Theranostics Subcommittee will be focused on the following goals: building a more robust theranostics program within NRG’s portfolio; serving as a resource to all NRG research investigators; collaborating with the group’s Center for Innovation in Radiation Oncology (CIRO) as well as the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core (IROC) to help establish the quality assurance standard for clinical trials that involve theranostics; engaging NRG’s disease site leadership in the creation of a strategy for theranostics development and incorporation into future NRG clinical trials; and, collaborating with the other National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) groups for clinical trial participation.

Jeff M. Michalski, MD, FASTRO, was appointed as Chair of the NRG Theranostics Subcommittee. Dr. Michalski led the effort to establish a subcommittee based on theranostics within NRG’s organizational structure in an effort to bridge the gaps between research conducted by industry and single institutions, as well as create a crossover of radiopharmaceutical research through all modalities to synergistically enhance the effects of treatment on targeted cancer. Dr. Michalski currently serves as the Immediate Past-Chair of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) as well as the Vice Chair and Director of Clinical Programs in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is a nationally recognized expert of genitourinary cancers, pediatric cancers, and cancer survivorship. At NRG, Dr. Michalski is currently a core member of the Genitourinary Cancer Committee and the Developmental Therapeutics Radiation Therapy Subcommittee. He previously has served as a Board member for the group and former chair of the Radiation Oncology Committee.

Thomas S.C. Ng, MD, PhD, was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Theranostics Subcommittee. Dr. Ng is the Associate Director of Radiopharmaceutical Therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. In his current role, he leads and participates in basic, translational, and clinical research programs within the field of theranostics which typically include active multidisciplinary collaborations across medical physics, imaging, and medical and radiation oncology. Dr. Ng hopes that the subcommittee can leverage NRG’s expertise in clinical trial execution and translational science to help address questions regarding optimal use of current treatments as well as identifying the biological mechanisms of treatment responses to radiopharmaceutical therapy. At NRG, Dr. Ng serves as a core member in the group’s Genitourinary Cancer and Imaging Committees. Additionally, he was a past recipient of a Cancer Cooperative Group Fellowship from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imagining which initially drew him in to working with NRG Oncology.

Oliver Sartor, MD was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Theranostics Subcommittee. Dr. Sartor is a medical oncologist, the Director of Radiopharmaceutical Trials, the Chair of the Genitourinary Cancer Disease Group and a professor of oncology at Mayo Clinic. He has in-depth experience leading advanced phase III prostate cancer clinical trials, especially ones that have been crucial in FDA approvals of drugs such as samarium-153 (Quadramet), radium-223 (Xofigo), and Lu-177-PSMA-617 (Pluvicto). At NRG, Dr. Sartor is currently the group’s Genitourinary Cancer Committee Vice-Chair. Additionally, he serves as NRG’s Co-Principal Investigator of the NRG-GU009 “PREDICT-RT” study of de-intensification of androgen deprivation therapy plus radiotherapy for lower genomic risk versus intensification of radiotherapy plus apalutamide for higher genomic risk in patients with high-risk prostate cancer.

In addition to the new subcommittee, NRG also selected new Vice-Chair leaders for the NRG NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Cancer Care Deliver Research (CCDR) and Early Phase Trial Oversight Committees.

Sarah Hawley, PhD, MPH, was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Cancer Care Delivery Research (CCDR) Committee. Dr. Hawley is the Maisel Research Professor of Cancer Control and Population Sciences as well as a Professor of Medicine, Health Management & Policy, and Health Behavior & Health Equity at University of Michigan. She is the Associate Director of Training, Education, and Career Development as well as the Co-Lead of Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program at the Rogel Cancer Center. Additionally, she is the Research Investigator and Lead for Education & Training at the Ann Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research and Faculty Lead at the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation in the Education and Career Development Workgroup. Dr. Hawley’s training includes health services and behavior research. She has a passion for developing the next generation of cancer care delivery and outcomes researchers and clinicians, and vast experience in NCORP priorities from first-hand involvement in the NCTN cooperative group setting.

Oladapo Yeku, MD, PhD, FACP, was appointed as Vice-Chair of the NRG Early Phase Trial Oversight Committee. Dr. Yeku is a medical oncologist and the Director of Translational Research in the Gynecologic Medical Oncology Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In his tenure at MGH, he has been a member and physician investigator within the hospital’s Phase 1 drug development group at the Termeer Center and in the adoptive cell therapy group since 2018. Dr. Yeku oversees therapeutic development in basket cohorts in his role and focuses on advancing the best agents with activity in gynecologic cancers. In addition to his scientific aims, Dr. Yeku has an enthusiasm for mentorship as he is currently involved in teaching an array of courses for medical students, graduate students, and medical oncology or gynecologic oncology fellows. He has also mentored junior faculty at MGH in clinical trial design, translational research, and objectives and inputs. At NRG, Dr. Yeku is a core member of the group’s Developmental Therapeutics Committee and Cervix/Vulva Cancer Subcommittee under the Gynecologic Oncology Committee.

NRG looks forward to the continued advances of the group’s research through the leadership and guidance of these individuals in their new roles.

 

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

 

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