New Crowley Award and Early Stage Investigators Selected
We’re honored to announce the 2024 recipient of the John Crowley, PhD Award is Subodh Selukar, PhD. Selukar is an early career Biostatistics faculty member at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His winning proposal titled “Toward cure models for clinical trials: applications to small-sample oncology trials with rare events” was selected for support by the Crowley program committee in July. This fall, Selukar’s award will provide a week-long residency with leaders and staff at SWOG’s Statistics and Data Management Center in Seattle, offering mentorship, collaboration, and an opportunity further develop the proposed project in a supportive environment.
The Crowley Award was first announced in 2020 to encourage statistical excellence in clinical trials and honor SWOG’s long-time group statistician.
As SWOG’s charitable arm, we’re committed to nurturing investigators early in their clinical research careers through mentorship, professional development, and research support. Established in 1999, the SWOG Early Stage Investigator Training Course (ESITC) is the hallmark program for its early career members – today made possible with philanthropic funding from our donors.
The 2024 cohort was just announced and includes five researchers from across our network:
Pedro Barata, MD, University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center
Dr. Barata is developing a phase III double-blinded trial (S2419, the BioFront Trial) that combines immune therapy with either a live biotherapeutic (CBM588) or a placebo as the first treatment for patients with advanced clear-cell kidney cancer.
Iván Lyra, MD, Hospital de Clinicas Dr. Manuel Quintela, Uruguay
Dr. Lyra’s research will test if mFOLFOX6 can be as effective as modified FLOT4 in preventing cancer recurrence, but with fewer side effects, for frail and older patients with operable stomach cancer.
Zin Myint, MD, University of Kentucky Markey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Myint is designing a phase 2 study to see if using PD-1 blockers before surgery can be more effective and less toxic than current treatments for patients with a specific type of high-grade bladder cancer.
Izumi Okado, PhD, University of Hawaii Cancer Center
Dr. Okado’s project will test whether using telehealth and education about clinical trials, supported by a regional hub, can improve access to trials and help refer rural patients with breast, lung, or gastrointestinal cancers.
Ali Zahalka, MD, PhD, University of Texas Southwest Medical Center
Dr. Zahalka is designing a study in patients with high-risk prostate cancer to see if a long-lasting nerve block, given before surgery, can make the cancer less aggressive and slow down its progression or return.
Congratulations to these early career researchers! We look forward to learning of their future success.
To learn more about all programs offered to support SWOG and its member researchers, visit our funding page. To support our vital work, please consider a gift today.
;