New for the New Year: Program and Award Announcements

The Hope Foundation is honored to offer a new lectureship in 2024, to bring back a special Mentorship opportunity, and to announce our latest funding awards.

Hope Launches The Frank and Linda Meyskens Annual Endowed Lectureship on Advances in Cancer Prevention

Thanks to the vision and generosity of the Meyskens family, The Hope Foundation is pleased to be launching a new lectureship in 2024.

Dr. Meyskens has, since the early 1980’s, been a leader in the recognition, development, and clinical usage of Prevention in the management of cancer. Over the past 10 years there has been an explosion of knowledge expanding opportunities to engage Prevention in personalized medicine, including early detection and genetically focused treatment options.

This new lectureship provides all travel and accommodations for one distinguished speaker to attend and present at the spring SWOG meeting each year. 

Hope pledges $1.4 million to support complex statistical work across SWOG studies

Statisticians are crucial to SWOG’s cancer trials. From initial trial design through final data analysis, they give both shape and meaning to the work. As cancer research becomes more complex, SWOG’s stats team has grown and changed as well.

In 2024, The Hope Foundation has renewed its commitment to supporting complex statistical work for the group with another 4-year pledge to the Statistics and Data Management Center in Seattle, this time totaling $1.4 million dollars.

This is our largest-ever pledge of support, and illustrates our commitment to advancing priority initiatives across the group. As reflected in the pie chart, research awards fund members’ unique projects and trials, while initiatives like the complex stats support make up an equally important portion of our total annual budget. 

Relaunched: The John Crowley, PhD Award 

Initially funded in 2020, The John Crowley, PhD Award program has been updated for 2024. 

The Crowley Award provides a rare opportunity to interact and collaborate with statistical faculty and data management staff at a leading publicly funded, national multi-center clinical trials organization via an in-person residency of up to one week. This interactive mentorship program is spearheaded by CRAB and the SWOG Statistics and Data Management Center and is uniquely customizable by the successful candidate.

Successful applicants for the award will present research concepts or projects that utilize SWOG data, resources and/or expertise in the field. Examples of concepts may include development of statistical methodology, or the application of statistical methods as applied to cancer clinical trials or translational research, possibly inclusive of secondary data analysis. Possible projects might involve interventions to stop smoking, surveys of medical providers, or medical chart review, Successful candidates will have a chance to network with leaders in the field and to develop their personal career path.

Latest Impact Award and career support grants announced

Recent Hope grant awards include a Coltman Fellowship, Impact Award, and two Career Engagement Awards.

One of our newer career support offerings, the Career Engagement Award program is provided for mid-career members. Two grants to investigators based at Columbia University were recently awarded:

• Meghna S. Trivedi, MD, MS
  S2108CD: A Cluster Randomized Trial Comparing an Educationally Enhanced Genomic Tumor Board (EGTB) Intervention to Usual Practice to Increase Evidence-Based Genome-Informed Therapy
• Jennifer E. Amengual, MD
  S2207: Randomized Phase II Study of the Addition of Targeted Agents to Tafasitamab-Lenalidomide in Transplant Ineligible Patients with Relapsed/Refractory LBCL

Our early career fellowship, named in honor of long-time SWOG chair Dr. Charles A. Coltman, Jr., has most recently been granted to support kidney cancer research:

• Pedro C. Barata, MD, MSc
  University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Cancer, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
  Phase III Double Blinded Trial of Immune-Based Therapy with a Live Biotherapeutic CBM588, or Placebo for Frontline Therapy of Advanced Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (BioFront Trial)

Finally, the Impact Award program has announced its newest grant supporting a bladder cancer study:

• Roger Li, MD
  Moffitt Cancer Center
  Identifying Histopathologic and Molecular Characteristics that Predicts Recurrence in Low Grade Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

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.