ACCRU Transformative Research

Genitourinary Oncologist Dr. Toni K. Choueiri on the METEOR Study and Advances in GU Therapies

Investigators are only as productive and strong as the members of their team. That is only one of many nuggets of wisdom from Dr. Toni K. Choueiri in this lively ACCRU podcast episode. Dr. Choueiri is the Director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary (GU) Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), co-leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg Chair and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also a member of the ACCRU Board of Directors. Dr. Choueiri also discusses the success of the phase 3 METEOR trial and what excites him about the progress in GU oncology. His insights on the work itself of an investigator are invaluable: the importance of facing the truth that success is not serendipity but the result of hard work and knowledge over time.

Part 2 with Dr. Fang-Shu Ou: Statistical Pitfalls in Designing and Analyzing Clinical Trials

The collaboration between biostatistician and investigator is essential to conducting studies that transform patient care. In this second part of a two-part series with Dr. Fang-Shu Ou, she identifies some of the common pitfalls in designing and analyzing clinical trials. She discusses "p-value hacking" and a few of the challenges of interim analysis, specifically changing the enrollment criteria in the middle of a study. She also argues for the importance of biostatisticians to understand the science and to ask good questions at the start of the study. Dr. Ou is a Mayo Clinic biostatistician and the group statistician for ACCRU (the sponsor of this podcast).

Biostatistician Dr. Fang-She Ou on Statistical Design for Clinical Trials

Every successful clinical trial is a dynamic collaboration between the scientist and the biostatistician. In this episode with Dr. Fang-Shu Ou, she explains the role that a biostatistician plays in the life of a study. Dr. Ou is a Mayo Clinic biostatistician and the faculty statistician for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, leading several gastrointestinal phase 3 clinical trials that aim to improve patient care. Dr. Ou is also the group statistician for ACCRU (the sponsor of this podcast), the cancer research network. Her research interest is in survival analysis, with the goal of developing new statistical methods for clinical trial design and analysis and assimilating these new methods into practice.

GI Investigator Dr. John Strickler on the Ground Breaking MOUNTAINEER Trial

At the 2022 ESMO World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, Dr. John Strickler presented the results of a groundbreaking trial for colon cancer. The phase 2 study examined the safety and efficacy of tucatinib in combination with trastuzumab or tucatinib alone in patients with HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer. This targeted therapy has the potential to change the trajectory and quality of the lives of patients. In this episode, Dr. Strickler discusses the initial challenge of enrolling patients for the trial and how he secured funding to pay for their participation, since many traveled from other parts of the U.S. for the study. Dr. Strickler is a medical oncologist at Duke Health and member of the Duke Cancer Center. ACCRU assisted Dr. Strickler in the initial phase of the trial, helping to enroll patients and manage the study.

ACCRU Founders on the Vision to Transform Patient Care with Innovative Clinical Trials

The heart of ACCRU is its three-way partnership with investigators, community doctors, and industry partners. In this episode, podcast host, Dr. Ciara O'Sullivan interviews three ACCRU founders: Dr. Steven Alberts, Dr. Jan Buckner, and Dr. Charles Loprinzi. They discuss the genesis of ACCRU, how it originated out of another entity, and the "why" behind the vision to develop a platform to conduct innovative clinical trials.

Dr. Saranya Chumsri and Dr. Kathryn J. Ruddy on Vaccine Trials for Breast Cancer.

Vaccines are one of the promising frontiers in breast cancer research. In this episode, ACCRU podcast host Dr. Ciara O'Sullivan interviews two breast cancer researchers who are collaborating on vaccine trials for breast cancer. Dr. Kathryn J. Ruddy is Professor of Medical Oncology at Mayo Clinic and studies long-term and late effects of cancer treatments, and how to best care for cancer survivors to enhance their quality of life and reduce symptoms. Dr. Saranya Chumsri is Associate Professor of Oncology at Mayo Clinic Florida. Her extensive research focuses on genomics, immunologic, epigenetics, breast cancer stem cells, endocrine resistance, as well as an aggressive form of breast cancer lacking estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2, termed triple negative breast cancer.

Dr. Catherine Diefenbach on the Promise of New Therapies for Mantle Cell Lymphoma

In this episode, podcast host Dr. Ciara O’Sullivan interviews Dr. Catherine Diefenbach about her innovative research for relapsed mantle cell lymphoma. Dr. Diefenbach is currently director of hematology translational research as well as director of the Clinical Lymphoma Program at NYU’s Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Diefenbach discusses a current ACCRU study that has the potential to prolong the survival of R/R MCL patients, including BTK inhibitor-resistant patients, or even have a role in the frontline treatment of elderly or unfit patients who are ineligible for aggressive chemo-immunotherapy.

Immunologist Dr. Keith Knutson on the Promise of Cancer Vaccines

In our inaugural episode, Dr. Keith Knutson, an immunologist and professor of immunology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, discusses the promise of vaccines for cancer recurrence. Dr. Knutson's research focus is on the immunology and immunotherapy of breast and ovarian cancers, both the basic immunobiology and clinical translation, including clinical trials. His work is aimed at preventing patients with these cancers from relapsing after receiving optimal conventional therapies. Dr. Knutson is the principal investigator of a vaccine study, open through ACCRU, that is testing a folate alpha receptor vaccine to stimulate the immune system of patients with TNBC who disease-free following conventional therapy. In addition, as it relates to HER2-positive breast cancer, Dr. Knutson and another colleague at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Saranya Chumsri, lead a phase II Trial to Evaluate Immune-related Biomarkers for Pathological Response in patients with Stage II-III HER2-postive Breast Cancer Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.