Erica Stringer-Reasor, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been appointed as a co-chair of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) Breast Cancer Clinical Trial Working Group.

Dr. Stringer-Reasor joins fellow co-chair Carey K. Anders, MD, a professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist and researcher at Duke Cancer Institute (DCI). She succeeds Filipa Lynce, MD, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who recently completed her term as co-chair. HCRN co-chairs serve two-year terms and may serve additional terms with the support of their colleagues.

Clinical Trial Working Groups (CTWGs) provide a forum where researchers from member institutions collaborate to discuss and develop study concepts, identify potential co-investigators and sites to participate in studies, and review the progress of ongoing clinical trials. CTWGs also provide junior investigators an opportunity to receive scientific feedback and mentorship from their senior peers. The Breast Cancer CTWG meets by teleconference every other month, and (when face-to-face meetings are possible) in-person during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium annual meetings.

Dr. Anders (pictured right), who has served on the Breast Cancer CTWG for three years, has been at DCI for the last year and a half, after a decade at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Within her clinical practice, she cares for patients with breast cancer and those with recurrence in the central nervous system. Dr. Anders’ research goals are to uncover genetic and genomic underpinnings of breast cancer and brain metastases, investigate novel strategies, and bring these to patients to treat advanced-stage cancer.

Dr. Stringer-Reasor’s research interests are in clinical trial design, pharmacokinetics analysis, drug development, health equity, and patient care, with emphasis in translational research to treat aggressive breast cancers, such as HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer.

“I would like to welcome Dr. Stringer-Reasor to the breast committee as co-chair,” Dr. Anders said. “We are thrilled that she accepted to serve as co-chair.”

Dr. Anders said the working group has made a lot of progress in recent years.

“We started out with one clinical trial and now we have at least a half dozen trials that are either approved and moving forward or are in various stages of development,” Dr. Anders said. “Our goal is to bring a multi-centered clinical trial approach for novel therapies across all stages of breast cancer, with a group of individuals who are very motivated to offer clinical trials to their patients.”

In the past, the group studied residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy as well as in the advanced setting largely around the challenge of brain metastases. There has also been a lot of interest in endocrine refractory ER-positive or hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer.

“We are a very open, collaborative, and supportive group,” Dr. Anders said. “I think it’s been a nurturing environment for young investigators who want to bring forward clinical trial proposals.”

Dr. Stringer-Reasor agrees.

“HCRN group serves as a platform for investigators to vet their ideas with other research leaders across multiple institutions,” she said. “There are times when investigators improve their basic science concepts during the meetings which helps to translate their concepts into clinical trials”. This group definitely gives investigators the impetus to collaborate among each other, bolster concepts, and make connections with industry partners.”

She sees her niche within the Breast Cancer CTWG as one that supports translational research — from the bench to the bedside.

“I would like to see our group do first in human phase I clinical trials, specifically for expansion into breast cancer patients, and trials that may help prevent and or alleviate some symptoms for our patients,” Dr. Stringer-Reasor said. “I would also like to help develop more targeted therapies for vulnerable populations such as minority patients to decrease cancer-related mortality and in elderly patients who are more likely to undergo severe toxicities from conventional chemotherapy. I hope this group can continue to bridge the gap with these health disparities by bringing these types of trials to the forefront.”

She expressed the benefit of developing studies within HCRN’s supportive and collaborative environment.

“With HCRN, it’s a large network, but it also has a friendly familiarity to it. It is large enough to have multi-site collaborations, but not too large to get lost,” Dr. Stringer-Reasor said. “You can walk into a meeting and get to know several investigators by name very easily.”

Dr. Stringer-Reasor earned her medical degree at the University of South Alabama, her internship at Tulane University, and residency at Baptist Health System in Birmingham, Ala. She completed two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Chicago in Medical Hematology/Oncology and Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics.

Learn more about HCRN’s Clinical Trial Working Groups.

Join a Clinical Trial Working Group.

About Hoosier Cancer Research Network:

Hoosier Cancer Research Network (formerly known as Hoosier Oncology Group) conducts innovative cancer research in collaboration with academic and community physicians and scientists across the United States. The organization provides comprehensive clinical trial management and support, from conception through publication. Created in 1984 as a program of the Walther Cancer Institute, Hoosier Cancer Research Network became an independent nonprofit clinical research organization in 2007. Since its founding, Hoosier Cancer Research Network has conducted more than 210 trials in a variety of cancer types and supportive care, resulting in more than 350 publications. More than 8,500 subjects have participated in Hoosier Cancer Research Network clinical trials.