Clinical Trials Specialist in Developmental Therapeutics

Project Summary The planned activities describe a set of efforts that will build upon my interest in developmental therapeutics and childhood leukemias. I will lead a team of physicians, research nurses, clinical research coordinators in the Pediatric Oncology and Developmental Therapeutics (DVL) Program at the HICCC and develop a portfolio of clinical trials, which includes NCI-sponsored studies. My goal is to increase the number of accruals to the DVL clinical trials, which is already excellent, by expanding with marketing efforts and also grow the portfolio of clinical trials at HICCC. I will continue my involvement in the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Myeloid Disease Committee and Developmental Therapeutics Committee. I will carry on my efforts in my current PI or co-PI positions for open trials, i.e. the COG AAML1921 and AAML18P1 studies. I will develop a new COG study to evaluate a novel method of dose de-escalation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors before treatment-free remission in children with CML working with a junior faculty. In addition, I hope to identify barriers to the accrual of minority patients in pediatric developmental therapeutics studies and institute a plan to improve it. I am devoted to mentoring and training young faculty who will develop next generation research in pediatric oncology. I will continue my efforts to train residents and fellows interested in pediatric oncology. I will help junior faculty to establish their roles at HICCC/CUIMC and also expand their academic opportunities in cooperative groups and collaborations with outside investigators.