Winship selected for National Cancer Institute’s new National Clinical Trials Network

4/01/2014

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University has been selected as a Lead Academic Participating Site for the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) new National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). The distinction comes with a five-year award.

Effective March 1, 2014, the NCTN will serve as NCI’s primary infrastructure to conduct phase II and III cancer clinical trials. NCTN clinical trials will enroll more than 17,000 patients per year with a variety of cancer types and from diverse backgrounds. The NCTN trials will be managed by five network groups, one of which will be co-led by Georgia CORE Board member Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, executive director of Winship and Deborah W. Bruner, PhD, RN, associate director for outcomes research at Winship.

Winship is one of 30 cancer centers in the U.S., and one of only five in the Southeast, to be chosen during a peer-review application process for this status.

“In selecting Winship for this designation, NCI recognizes our outstanding record in offering cancer patients participation in high quality clinical trials as well as our national leadership in research,” says Dr. Curran.

Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, Charles A. Staley, MD and Jonathan J. Beitler, MD, MBA, all Winship members, will serve as principal investigators for Winship’s NCTN participation. They will use the grant to support efforts to optimize the design and conduct of Winship’s trials as well as to support patient enrollment in NCTN trials. More information can be found on the Winship web site.