Co-chairs of the HCRN Lymphoma Working Group, Jonathan B. Cohen, MD, Natalie Galanina, MD, and Natalie Grover, MD, were driven by science and the influence of strong mentors early in their careers. It’s also why lymphoma is a focus of their work as they see great opportunities to make an impact through the WG collaboration.

Dr. Cohen is associate professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, and co-director of the Lymphoma Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University; Dr. Galanina, is associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; and Dr. Grover is associate professor of medicine, clinical director, Cellular Therapy Program, and leader, Cell Therapy POD at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network highlights Russell Pachynski, MD, genitourinary medical oncologist and associate professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at Washington University School of Medicine.

Hoosier Cancer Research Network highlights Sarah Sammons, MD a medical oncologist at Duke Cancer Center.

Hoosier Cancer Research Network highlights Richard Hall, MD, MS, a medical oncologist at University of Virginia Cancer Center. Dr. Hall is a member of the HCRN Thoracic Clinical Trial Working Group. Read More

Meet Hatim Sabaawy, MD, PhD

Hatim Sabaawy, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center is the Director of Personalized Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the CU School of Medicine. Dr. Sabaawy is responsible for fostering translational research activities across the academic and clinical partner institutions of the CU Cancer Center, including Children’s Hospital Colorado and UC Health. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network highlights Pashtoon Kasi, MD, MS, a medical oncologist at Weil Cornell Medicine. Dr. Kasi is a member of the HCRN Gastrointestinal Clinical Trial Working Group. Read More

Four Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) investigator-initiated clinical trials were highlighted during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
HCRN investigators presented one poster and three trials in progress posters during the 2022 ASCO annual meeting. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network highlights University of Washington (UW) / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, a board-certified medical oncologist with expertise and experience in treating genitourinary (GU) cancers. In 2018, Dr. Grivas joined UW School of Medicine as an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and Clinical Director of the Genitourinary Cancers Program at UW and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Read More

Reposted with permission by the Indiana University School of Medicine

Indiana University School of Medicine physician scientist Bryan Schneider, MD is the principal investigator of clinical trial HCRN BRE12-158, a randomized clinical study published in the prominent Journal of Clinical Oncology the primary goal of which was to compare survival in women with high-risk (those who did not fully respond to chemotherapy prior to surgery) triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) with a genomically directed therapy versus standard of care.

Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network highlights Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and Mylin Torres, MD, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Torres serves as co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control research program at Winship Cancer Institute while also serving as a radiation oncologist at the cancer center.

She is a member of HCRN’s Breast Cancer Clinical Trial Working Group and sponsor-investigator of HCRN BRE19-433, a multi-institutional Phase II study to evaluate efficacy and safety of TAlazoparib, Radiotherapy and Atezolizumab in gBRCA 1/2 negative Patients with PD-L1+ Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TARA). Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features Andrew S. Poklepovic, MD, in our investigator spotlight. Dr. Poklepovic serves as assistant professor in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care at the VCU Massey Cancer Center and is a Harrison Endowed Scholar at the VCU School of Medicine. He is also the medical director for the Massey Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office and an associate member of the Massey Cancer Center Developmental Therapeutics Program for the Department of Internal Medicine.

Read More

Reposted with permission by the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Indiana University School of Medicine researcher Bryan P. Schneider, MD, is leading a novel nationwide study to better understand how to treat patients with triple-negative breast cancer based on their own unique genetic data.

PERSEVERE, also known as HCRN BRE18-334, is a phase 2 clinical trial with the goal of studying personalized cancer treatment combinations when compared to standard cancer treatment.

“There is a tremendous need for successful triple-negative breast cancer treatments,” said Schneider, who is the Vera Bradley Professor of Oncology at IU School of Medicine and a physician-scientist at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research. “Recurrence and death rates are still too high, and novel strategies to improve that are markedly needed. We feel PERSEVERE is an innovative trial to try to help meet those needs.” Read More

A phase II randomized open-label study for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation, will test the EGFR inhibitor osimertinib with or without ramucirumab.

The study, HCRN LUN18-335, is now open to accrual at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston; Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle; Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC; Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis; Moffitt Cancer Center in Miami; New York University Cancer Institute in New York; Providence Cancer Institute in Portland, Oregon; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago; Rush University Medical Center in Chicago; Summit Health Cancer Center in Florham Park, New Jersey; and the University of Virginia Cancer Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. Read More

A multi-institutional single-arm study led by Rachel Sanborn, MD, of the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of Providence Cancer Institute, is testing the immunotherapy drug durvalumab followed by chemoradiation and consolidation durvalumab for adults with previously untreated stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The study, HCRN LUN18-357, is currently enrolling participants at Providence Cancer Institute in Portland, Oregon; HealthPartners Institute in Minneapolis; Rush University Medical Center in Chicago; Summit Health Cancer Center in Florham Park, New Jersey; and Cancer Center of Kansas in Wichita.

Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network’s Melanoma Clinical Trial Working Group recently appointed a new co-chair, Alan Tan, MD, director of GU Medical Oncology and assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Cell Therapy at Rush Medical College.

Dr. Tan (pictured left) joins current co-chairs Ragini R. Kudchadkar, MD, of Emory University and Timothy Kuzel, MD, FACP, also of Rush University, in this leadership role. His research interests are in designing and implementing novel immunotherapies and targeted therapies in melanoma and genitourinary cancers.

Prior to joining Rush University, Dr. Tan served as clinical assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, where he worked on phase I, II, and III clinical trials. He received his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship in hematology/oncology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Read More

David J. McConkey, PhD (pictured left), professor of urology and oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Gaorav P. Gupta, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology, biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, were recently appointed as co-chairs of Hoosier Cancer Research Network’s Correlative Sciences Clinical Trial Working Group. The group includes investigators from several HCRN member institutions who advise investigators on correlative research objectives for HCRN studies that are in development.

Dr. Gupta, a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, received his MD, PhD, from the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program offered by Weill Cornell Medicine, The Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He completed his residency training in radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he served as chief resident his during his final year. His expertise in breast cancer began at Sloan Kettering Institute, where he studied the mechanisms of tissue-specific metastasis in breast cancer and the critical role of the DNA damage sensor protein Mre11 in breast cancer prevention. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Coral Omene, MD, PhD, medical oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Research Interests and Expertise:

Dr. Omene is a medical oncologist with a passion for women’s health who is dedicated to the care of treating and managing a diverse pool of breast cancer patients. She has devoted much of her research toward translating novel laboratory observations into discoveries to better care for breast cancer patients, with a particular focus on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is known to be among the most aggressive breast cancers, with a poor prognosis, especially among African American women.

Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member institution UT Southwestern Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas, and Hans Hammers, MD, PhD, an associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the UT Southwestern Medical School and the first Eugene P. Frenkel, M.D. Scholar in Clinical Medicine.

Read More

Results from a Hoosier Cancer Research Network study in triple negative breast cancer, led by researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, were recently published in npj Breast Cancer.

The purpose of the multi-site, phase II study, BRE09-146, “PARP Inhibition After Preoperative Chemotherapy in Patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer or ER/PR+, HER2 Negative With Known BRCA1/2 Mutations,” was to evaluate 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) in patients treated with single agent cisplatin versus cisplatin in combination with the PARP inhibitor rucaparib following preoperative chemotherapy. Researchers also evaluated the safety and tolerability of this combination. Kathy D. Miller, MD (pictured), was the sponsor-investigator of the study. Dr. Miller is the Ballvé Lantero Professor of Oncology and a professor of medicine in the Indiana University School of Medicine and associate director of clinical research in the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network announces the appointment of Shilpa Gupta, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, and Rana McKay, MD, of the University of California San Diego, as co-chairs of the organization’s Genitourinary Clinical Trial Working Group.

The new co-chairs succeed Noah Hahn, MD, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins; Matthew Galsky, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Guru Sonpavde, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who led the group for a decade of highly productive collaborative research. In 2020 alone, HCRN investigators presented seven abstracts at scientific meetings, including an oral abstract at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, and published a manuscript in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. More than 75 investigators and 45 institutions compose the working group, and the group’s portfolio includes about 20 active studies and approved Letters of Intent. Read More